Twilight: A Tale of Two Swans
by MistressAsa
Summary: While she read the books and her friends forced her to watch the movies, Seri never thought she would ever be a part of the series. Her friends were obsessive, not her. So what happens when she becomes Serinda Swan, Bella's future-seeing twin sister that knows all about the Twilight series? Rated M for language.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable.**

Seri sighed as another drop of water hit her in the nose from under the leaky pipes above her. She was currently in the cabinets underneath the kitchen sink trying to fix the leak it had in its copper-rusted pipes.

Seri shifted slightly as she reached for one of the wrenches that was hidden in a pile of other tools on the floor next to her legs where her tool box had fallen over. She quickly sifted through the mess, found the size she needed, and tightened the connector piece between the two pipes where the leak was located. She waited a minute or so before smiling to herself, happy she had accomplished yet another repair on the house.

As she pulled herself out from inside the cabinets, she underestimated the distance between her head and the top of the pipes. A second later, a loud crack rang through the house and Seri yelled, "God, damn it!" as her forehead connected with the pipes.

She turned and glared at the pipes as she scooted down onto the floor, rubbing the sore spot on her head. She didn't feel anything wet, so she knew she wasn't bleeding; it would, however, leave a nice bump.

 _It's a good thing I don't bruise easily,_ she growled angrily in her mind.

"Seri! Are you okay?" Seri's twin sister, Bella, asked as she came around the corner of the room with a basket full of dirty laundry.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Seri grumbled to her in response before turning to glare at the pipes again. "Damn pipes."

"So you got them fixed then?" Bella asked as she set down the basket and walked over to give Seri a hand up.

Seri gave her a look as she accepted Bella's help up. "Don't I always?"

Bella rolled her eyes at her sister and moved back to grab her basket of laundry.

Serinda Carolyn Swan had never thought she would be reborn as Isabella Swan's twin sister. That thought had never crossed her mind when, in her other life, she had read the Twilight books and her friends forced her to watch the movies. She had been a fan of the series, and she found the small facts her Twilight-obsessed friends often told her were interesting, but she had never wanted to be a part of the series in any way, shape, or form.

And yet, here she was, in some weird alternate Twilight universe where she could remember everything from the last life she was in with perfect detail. She learned early on in her life not to say anything about it. She had received many disapproving looks from Renee when she would talk about something her 'other parents' would do.

Of course, that wasn't the only shit storm that this universe had to gift her with. Apparently she wasn't to know just her sister's future and how it would work out, but also everyone else's. Yep. That right. Seri also happens to be a seer, like Alice. And she absolutely hated it. It was like the world was trying to give her an excuse that wouldn't make her seem quite as crazy if someone asked why she seemed to know exactly how Bella's life would go when she moved to Forks. Whatever.

Seri did have to admit that it did come in handy though, and it wasn't nearly as bad when she learned how to control them. Now, she could just choose if she wanted to see the future, unless it was something that the world deemed absolutely important. If it was, then it hit her like a mac truck, but she had learned to live with it.

Take now, for instance. Phil and Renee had gotten married a little over two months ago and it was now the end of November. Bella was supposed to move in with Charlie in early January, but she had yet to say anything about moving to let Renee and Phil travel together.

As Bella walked away from Seri, she was suddenly overwhelmed by a vision, causing her to freeze as she leaned against the kitchen table and stared blankly at the air in front of her. The vision showed that if Seri didn't talk to Bella about moving, she wouldn't move to Forks, and none of the events of Twilight would happen because Bella wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Seri needed to encourage her.

Seri snapped back from the vision a moment later, the pain in her head forgotten as she followed her sister calmly to the laundry room. Bella quirked a brow at her as she set the basket down beside the washing machine and began separating her clothes.

Seri leaned against the dryer and watched Bella as she stated, "You've been worrying about Mom with Phil gone again, haven't you?"

Bella automatically froze with one of her shirts in her hand before looking up at Seri. Bella stared into her eyes for a moment before she straightened up and began to nervously play with the shirt in her hands. Bella glanced down at the shirt and said, "You know I hate that sad look in her eyes when he leaves. It's heartbreaking."

Seri resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Bella had always been a hopeless romantic, even if she wouldn't admit it to herself. "Have you thought about anything that might help? Because I can't think of anything."

"Well," Bella said slowly, hands still kneading the shirt.

After about thirty seconds of silence, Seri did roll her eyes and said, "Bella, come on. Spit it out already."

"Fine," Bella spit out, glaring slightly at Seri. She took a deep breath before she quickly said, "I was thinking we should move in with Charlie to let Mom travel with Phil."

Bella said it so fast that anyone else would have had to take some time to decipher the words, but Seri just blinked at her and grinned.

"All right. If that's your plan, then you better call Dad tonight," Seri said, still grinning, as she started to the door of the laundry room.

"Wait," Bella said incredulously. Seri stopped in the doorway and turned to look at Bella. "You're really okay with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Seri asked, nearly laughing at the look on Bella's face.

"Well…uh…" Bella stuttered.

Seri frowned as Bella continued to look like a landed fish, realizing Bella was trying to come up with a good reason so she could talk herself out of the idea. Seri softened her face as she met Bella's eyes and said softly, "It's a good idea Bella. Mom will be able to be the free spirit she always has been by traveling around with Phil like a gypsy, Dad will be ecstatic that we want to come live with him permanently, and we'll get to spend a little time with him before we go off to college on our own."

Bella was silent for a few moments before she nodded to herself and said, "Yeah. You're right."

"I always am. Remember to call Dad tonight" Seri said, smiling, and began to leave the room. When she was about halfway down the hallway, she yelled, "And you're telling Mom since it was your idea!"

Seri cackled to herself as she heard the loud "UHHHH!" that echoed through the house a second later.


	2. First Sight

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable.**

Mom drove us to the airport with the windows rolled down. I was extremely happy with that fact, seeing as it was seventy-five degrees here in Phoenix, even though it was January. Bella sat in the passenger seat, wearing the same sleeveless, white eyelet lace shirt that the book said she would, a parka laying in her lap. I lay sprawled out all over the backseat, every once in a while picking my dark auburn hair out of my mouth when it got caught in the wind. I was wearing a black t-shirt with a miscellaneous gold design, a pair of skinny jeans, and a pair of comfy high top shoes.

We were on our way to the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, something I couldn't be happier about. It was one of the many ways I differed from Bella, and changed the book just slightly. When Bella decided she didn't want to go stay with Charlie for the summer anymore in Forks when we were fourteen, she and Charlie didn't take two weeks out of their summer to go to California. It didn't matter anymore, because I still wanted to go to Forks. So Bella just stayed at home with Renee while I went to stay with Charlie.

Unlike her, I liked the rainy weather, and especially the forest and greenery the town was made of. I hated the heat of Phoenix and the fact that it was all desert. It was boring, and left little to really look at. And I was a really big Daddy's girl. It seems that trait carried over from my last life.

"Bella, Serinda," mom said to us, and I rolled my eyes at the use of my full name as opposed to Bella's nickname. Charlie had named Bella, the lucky girl, and Mom had named me. Apparently, my name was too 'pretty' to just say my nickname for. What crap. "You don't have to do this."

"I _want_ to go," Bella said, and it was easy to tell she was lying, though I suppose it was a tad more convincing than her regular lies. The book had gotten that aspect of personality pinpointed. It was actually quite sad to watch. It was also the reason I usually lied for her when we were younger.

"We'll be fine, Mom," I said, smiling comfortingly at her before looking at Bella. "We'll both love it."

Bella looked into my eyes and gave me a small nod, telling me she understood. She knew that I had 'feelings' about things sometimes—she really was extremely observant—and learned to trust me fully on things like that.

"All right," Mom said reluctantly. "Well, tell Charlie I said hi."

"We will," Bella and I said in unison and grinned at each other. We were glad we weren't identical twins, what with my dark auburn hair, dark blue eyes, and lightly tanned skin as opposed to her mahogany colored hair, deep chocolate brown eyes, and pale skin, but times like these, where we were able to speak at the same, brought us joy for some odd reason.

"I'll see you two soon," Mom insisted. "You can come home whenever you want—I'll come right back as soon as you need me."

"Mom," I said, drawing her attention to me. "Don't worry about us. It'll be great."

Mom gave me and Bella a sad look before pulling us into her arms and hugged us so hard I felt like a boa constrictor was squeezing the life out of me. We exchanged 'I love you's' before Bella and I boarded the plane, me skipping and her trudging onto our flight.

As we went through our flights, I thought about just how awkward this might end up being. I knew from the books Bella was more or less thinking about the same thing. It was kind of her own fault anyway. Nothing was awkward between me and Charlie, because I actually spent time with him and got to know him. Bella didn't. So the painful awkwardness was pretty much self-imposed for her.

Anyways, I was still excited to see my dad, so I just shoved the thoughts of awkwardness into the back of my mind as our flight from Seattle to Port Angeles began to land.

It was raining when we landed, and Bella looked out the window of the plane with a sad expression. I nudged her gently in the ribs with my elbow and said, "It will be fine. Soon, the weather will be the last thing you're thinking about."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked me exasperatedly, and I merely grinned in response as we got up to walk off the plane.

Charlie was waiting for us when we got off the plane, and I laughed when Bella stumbled into an awkward hug with him as she walked off the plane. One thing I was definitely glad about was the fact that I had the grace of a normal human being instead of that of a newborn baby deer trying to walk for the first time like my sister.

"It's good to see you, Bells. How's Renee?" he asked, smiling. A second later he grunted as I slammed into him, wrapping my arms and legs around him to hang off of him like a little kid. "Seri! I missed you too, but I'm not quite as young as I used to be."

I pouted as he tried to pry me off of him and jumped back onto the ground. "But Daddy…!"

Dad laughed and Bella rolled her eyes at my antics as she said, "Mom's fine. It's good to see you, too, Dad."

Both of us only had a few bags. Bella barely had any clothes that were fit for the rainy state and nearly all my clothes for Forks were already in our house. The bags fit easily in the cruiser, and I hastily jumped into the backseat, giving Bella an evil grin in response to Bella's glare when she realized she would have to sit up front.

"I found a good car for you, Bells, really cheap," Dad announced as soon as we were all strapped in. My thoughts turned to my own car, that I had bought in Forks with the money I saved doing odd jobs for the elderly people around Forks and Phoenix. I learned early on that I was good at watching and replicating repairs made on almost anything, including cars and plumbing, and the old people paid pretty well since I was so 'cute' and 'helpful'. It was helpful, considering Renee didn't really think about that kind of thing when buying a house and Bella couldn't be trusted on a ladder with tools.

But back to my car. I bought it when I was fifteen in Forks. It was old, much like Bella's truck, a black 1977 Chevy. It had needed quite a bit of work that had been done by me, Charlie, Billy Black, his son Jacob, Quil Ateara, and Embry Call. Luckily, we did a pretty good job, and it had been up and running perfectly by the end of the summer last year. I, like Bella, didn't want to have to be driven around in the cruiser when it came time for us to live here.

"What kind of car?" Bella asked suspiciously.

"Well, it's a truck actually, a Chevy," he said.

"Whoop, whoop!" I yelled excitedly from the back, causing Charlie to turn around for a moment to grin at me and Bella to roll her eyes at me.

"Where did you find it?" she asked, ignoring my outburst.

"Do you remember Billy Black down at La Push?" he asked her.

Ah, La Push. Home of the future wolves. When Charlie began letting me go there on my own, I never thought I would become friends with the future wolves, including Paul and Jared. Sam I had met a handful of times when I was hanging out with the Clearwaters, and I had been there for the explosion when he left Leah for Emily. It was kind of heartbreaking, having my friends yell at me and tell me they didn't want to hang out with me anymore. I had been especially close to Paul, most likely because he had been one of my favorite wolves in the books, and his break off had been the hardest. But I understood what was happening and let them go. I was actually quite excited to be able to hang out with them again soon, even at the cost of Bella's heartbreak.

"No," Bella answered after a moment of thinking.

"Yep," I answered. Sometimes I would go fishing with Charlie, Billy, and Harry Clearwater. Other times I would hang out with their kids and their friends.

"He used to go fishing with us during the summer," Charlie prompted, trying to bring up some sort of memory for her; however, Bella just shook her head.

"He's in a wheelchair now," Charlie continued after Bella didn't say anything, "so he can't drive anymore, and he offered to sell me his truck cheap."

"What year is it?" Bella asked. I could see Charlie's brows tightened in the rearview mirror, a tell that said he had been asked a question he had been hoping wouldn't be asked.

"Older than dirt," I said quickly. Charlie's eyes met mine in the rearview mirror and he gave me a disapproving look. "Hey, I was just trying to help."

"What year is it?" Bella asked again, ignoring me once more. We were going to have to talk about this ignoring me thing. That was just rude.

"Well, Billy's done a lot of work on the engine—it's only a few years old, really," Charlie said, trying to evade the question. I snorted. _Just a few years old._

"When did he buy it?" Bella asked, more or less rewording her last question. She thinks she's sly.

"He bought it in 1984, I think." There he goes. I hate to tell him this but 1984 is more than 'a few years old', and that wasn't even how old the truck really was.

"Did he buy it new?"

"Well, no. I think it was new in the early sixties—or late fifties at the earliest," he admitted sheepishly.

Bella opened her mouth to say something, but I intervened quickly. "Don't worry, Bella. If something goes wrong, I'll be able to fix it. Besides, I helped Dad pick it out, so I know you'll love it."

And I had helped him pick it out. He called me about a week after Bella and I had asked to come live with him, wanting my opinion on cars for her, since I knew her better than he did. He had actually picked out about five different cars of varying price, but I had asked him to find the cheapest thing he could and send me a picture of that instead, knowing Bella absolutely hated having money spent on her. A few days later he sent me a picture of the faded red Chevy pickup, and I told him that was the one.

I'm starting to think I may have more influence in this storyline than I thought I'd have.

After seeing the still slightly doubting look on Bella's face, Dad tried to reassure her by saying, "Really, Bella, the thing runs great. They don't build them like that anymore."

"How cheap is cheap?" Bella asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Uh, I kind of already bought it for you. As a homecoming gift, since Seri already has a car."

"You didn't need to do that, Dad. I was going to buy myself a car," Bella said after realizing it was free. She turned around to give me a thankful look, and I winked back at her. She knew that even if the truck farted out, at least Charlie hadn't spent any money on it.

"I don't mind. I want you to be happy here. Both of you." Another thing the book got right was the way Charlie showed emotions. He was awkward about it, and it frequently made me laugh and him blush.

"That's really nice, Dad, Seri. Thanks. I really appreciate it." And yet Bella still looked at the rain outside the window sadly.

"Well, now, you're welcome," Charlie said, a barely noticeable blush spreading across his cheeks. It's no wonder where Bella gets it from.

It was silent for a few moments and before they started an awkward conversation about the weather, I asked Charlie, "How have Billy and Harry been lately?"

That started a long, comfortable conversation between Charlie and I that got Bella out of talking and lasted until we got to the house. Charlie's house was a three bedroom two bath, which I believe was an accommodation for me, seeing as the original house was a two bedroom one bath. It was lucky for Bella, seeing as she wasn't too keen on sharing a bathroom with Charlie, and instead had to share a bathroom with me.

Bella's eyes widened when she took in the old red truck sitting next to my black one in the driveway, and a small smile adorned her lips. I walked up to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as I said, "Nice, huh?"

"It's great," she said to me incredulously. "Thanks."

"You shouldn't have doubted me," I sang teasingly at her as I moved to help Charlie get our bags out of the cruiser's trunk. As I sidled up next to Charlie, I leaned over to tell him, "She loves it. Good job, Dad."

He gave me a quick one-armed hug as he said, "Thanks for helping me out, kid."

"No problem," I retorted, grabbing my suitcase out of the trunk before heading toward the house and upstairs to my room. Bella's and my rooms were upstairs with a shared bathroom at the end of the stairs. Charlie's room and bathroom were downstairs in a singular hallway.

My room was practically a mirror of Bella's, except updated since I was here more than she was. It had a wooden floor, ocean blue walls, a peaked ceiling, and forest green laced curtains around the window that matched the sheets on my bed. A desk with a laptop was in one corner of the room, and a sister rocking chair to Bella's sat in the corner near the window.

After I unpacked the little luggage I had, I went downstairs to hang out with Charlie while Bella stayed upstairs and sulked, knowing she wouldn't want anyone to bother her.

I slept pretty well that night, the soft sound of the rain pattering on the roof lulling me into a comfortable sleep. I loved the sound of the rain at night. It had always helped me sleep, and I had learned thunderstorms were even better.

I got up, and, seeing a thick fog outside the window, dressed in a grey tank top, a red and grey flannel long sleeve button up, a pair of boot cut jeans, and a pair of black converse. I slipped into the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair, grabbing a hair tie to slip around my wrist before bounding back into my room and grabbing my black rain jacket and book bag. I took the stairs in twos, barely looking at the now familiar pictures adorning the walls.

Bella came downstairs as I was grabbing around in the cabinet for a poptart. I felt bad for her, seeing the dark circles under her eyes and knowing that she wasn't used to the sound of the rain, which had kept her up. Charlie poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting down at the table to read the paper.

"You want one?" I asked Bella. I was already on my knees on the countertop to reach the cabinet, seeing as I was too short to reach. May as well ask while I was already here. She nodded her head sleepily and I quickly snatched another bag and jumped down from the counter, handing her the bag and sitting down at the table.

One of the few things I was jealous of was Bella's height. She was only five-four, but that was still three inches on my five-one. You wouldn't believe the difference three inches could make. Like the fact that Bella would have been able to reach the poptarts in the top cabinet. It wasn't fair.

Breakfast was a pretty silent affair, with a few words here and there. I was lost in my own thoughts, thinking about how different school was going to be. In Phoenix, we were in a class of seven hundred kids, and now we were going to Forks High School, which totaled out at three hundred and fifty seven—now fifty nine—kids total. It was weird. And because the school was so small, they would obviously notice us and we were going to get stared at. A lot. And that was really not something I was all about.

Charlie left first, wishing us luck on our first day at school before heading out, and I waited for Bella to be ready before asking, "Do you want to follow me to the school?"

She nodded. "Yeah. That would be easier. So I won't get lost."

I snorted as we walked outside together, turning to lock the door as I said, "As if you could get lost in a town this small."

I heard Bella chuckle behind me and turned around to give her a smile. Both of us walked to our trucks and hopped in, and I pulled out of the driveway ahead of her. The drive to the high school was short, because, as I said, the town was small. I'd driven past the school multiple times on my visits here, so it made the transition a little easier. I pulled into a parking space in front of one of the maroon-colored brick buildings labeled FRONT OFFICE, and Bella parked right next to me.

I waited for her before walking towards the entrance, knowing it would be a comfort for not only her, but for me too. At least we had each other.

The inside of the building was brightly lit, and more than a little warm. It was small, mostly consisting of the main desk and a few padded waiting chairs. Awards and different colored papers lined the walls and potted plants were placed randomly around the room. Behind the desk was an older woman, probably in her mid-forties, with red hair wearing reading glasses and a purple t-shirt. Ms. Cope.

Ms. Cope looked up a few seconds after we got to the desk. "Can I help you?"

"We're Serinda and Isabella Swan," Bella informed her, and I saw her eyes widen as she took us in. I gave her a bright smile as she perused me, causing her to give me a small smile in return.

"Of course," she said, digging through a precariously stacked pile of documents on her desk until she pulled two from them, then turned around to dig through a different pile. "Now, which one of you is which?"

I waited until she turned around to look at us with a few more papers in her hands and said, "I'm Seri. She's Bella."

"All right," she said, handing us several different papers. "Here are your schedules, and a map of the school."

She took time to highlight both mine and Bella's maps to show us where each of our classes were. We were then given a pink slip that we were supposed to have our teachers sign and bring back at the end of the day. We left a few minutes later, Ms. Cope wishing us a good first day like Charlie did this morning.

We both got back in our trucks and drove around to the student parking lot, where I noticed a shiny Volvo, since it was the nicest car there. Edward's. I just rolled my eyes and parked, looking to see Bella parked a few spaces down from me. I waited for her to pass by me on the way to the buildings before slipping my arm around her.

"So, what class you have first?" I asked conversationally.

She raised an eyebrow at me as she said, "Weren't you paying attention when the receptionist was highlighting the maps?"

"Not when she was highlighting yours," I told her, giving her another bright smile. I knew, of course, we didn't have the same class schedule. I chose different electives exactly for that purpose. Art instead of Spanish, American Wars compared to Government, and Chemistry instead of Biology.

"English in building three," she said, sighing. She suddenly stopped walking, and I noticed we were currently standing in front of said building.

Seeing the sadness on her face, I quickly placed the back of my hand on me forehead and dramatized, "Alas, fair maiden. For now, we must part. But fear not! For soon we will be reunited for a meal of lovely portions!"

It worked. Bella let out a small giggle and pushed me playfully away from her, saying, "Go to class, you heathen."

"A heathen I am not, my lady," I said in a British accent as I skipped off to building five, where my art class was. As I walked in, I noticed there were only two students in there, besides the teacher. The classroom was full of photography and drawings and paintings. There were desks set up in rows that were just big enough to hold two people. In the back of the room were tall cabinets that, I'm assuming, held art supplies.

I quickly sidled up to the teacher, giving the eccentric-looking woman who reminded me of Renee my pink slip to sign and said, "Hi. I'm Seri Swan. I just started today."

The woman's eyes lit up happily as she accepted the paper from me and said, "Hello! I'm Ms. Julian. Welcome to my art class! Now, where to seat you…"

As the woman looked around the room, flitting from seat to seat, I waited patiently. I loved art. It was the number one reason I took this class. I was actually quite good, as I had taken up drawing out some of my more vivid and pleasant visions I had, like the one I had of Bella, Renee, and me at the park in California when we were eight, before we moved. It was currently on the wall in my room at Charlie's house.

Finally Ms. Julian's eyes lingered on one seat, and as she made up her mind, a vision flashed behind my eyes. A large man, probably about six-six or six-seven, and built like a linebacker sat next to me, his head thrown back laughing. His hair was deep brown and curled lightly, making his pale skin look even paler, and his smile while he was laughing showed dimples, making him look more childlike.

Emmett.

I'd be sitting next to Emmett.

"Second row, last seat, on the left," Ms. Julian said as I came out of my vision. I nodded my thanks to her and dragged myself over to my seat, plopping down in it and putting my book bag under the table.

Apparently, I had zoned out, because it felt like only a second later something scraped out the chair next to me and sat down, a chill suddenly in the air. I looked over to see Emmett there, peering down at me with honey colored eyes. The books nor the movies did him justice. He really was quite beautiful. His stature was much different up close, especially since I was so short. I practically had to look straight up at him to look in his eyes.

I meant to introduce myself, since it was obvious he was waiting for me to say something, but I felt like a little kid and all I could say was, "Whoa! You're like a mountain!"

I would have been embarrassed if it weren't so true.

He stared at me for another moment before his lips twitched, and he suddenly burst out laughing. My vision had come true. After a few moments, he stopped laughing and looked at me with a grin on his face. He said, "I like you. You're a funny little thing. My name is Emmett Cullen."

He extended one of his hands to me, and as I grabbed it I took some time to marvel at how much bigger his hands were than mine. He absolutely engulfed me.

My mind finally registered what he said, and I grinned up at him. I figured Emmett would be easy for me to get along with. He'd let me play out my inner child with him, and he found most things funny quite easily. Bella was more mature than me, and didn't always understand my need to act like a little kid. But Emmett did, and so I said, in another mock British accent, "It is a pleasure to meet you, my good sir. Allow me to present to you Seri Swan."

I gave a little flourish at the end, causing Emmett to laugh loudly again, and I vaguely noticed the other students that had filed into the room giving us odd looks. Probably because a Cullen was talking to an outsider. Even I thought that was odd, but hey, if the universe is trying to integrate me into the family so I can be 'in the know' with Bella, I was one hundred percent cool with that.

"I really like you, Miss Seri," Emmett said after he had calmed down again. "I think we're going to be good friends."

And just like that, the ice between Emmett and I was broken and we were becoming fast friends. We joked and monkeyed around together for the rest of the class period. Everyone gave us weird looks, including the teacher, but she never told us to stop, since we were somehow still able to do our work in between our messing around. We talked about a little bit of everything. I talked about Phoenix, Bella, and my summer visits to Forks. He talked about his senior year of high school (for like the fiftieth time—not that he would say that), his family, and especially about his Rosie. I wasn't a big romantic, but the way he talked about her was absolutely adorable.

Soon, though, the bell rang, and it was time to switch classes. Emmett was a gentleman and walked me to the door. At the door, we separated. He headed toward the Physics building, and I was headed to my English class. As he walked away, Emmett yelled back to me, "Bye, Seri! See you later!"

Over my shoulder, I smiled to him and yelled back, "Later, Mountain Man!"

I could hear his booming laugh even as I walked into building three. I walked into the room, noticing it was set up pretty much like the art room, and walked up to the tall, balding man who I was assuming was the teacher. A quick glance at the name plate on his desk identified him as Mr. Mason. I handed him my slip, and as soon as he saw my name, he started gawking at me.

After a couple seconds of the uncomfortable staring, I cleared my throat and said, "Uh, could you, like, not do that?"

He stumbled out a quick apology, giving me what looked like a reading list before pointing me to a lone seat in the back of the class. When I sat down, I glanced at the reading list. It was pretty basic compared to our classes in Phoenix: Bronte, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner. All the books on the list had already been required for us to read at my old school, so that means all I would have to do is sift through the old essays I thought I might need and brought with me. Sweet. No work.

The teacher was boring, and I paid little attention to him as he lectured the class on something or another. The bell finally rang, and I zoomed out of there and towards building four, where my Chemistry class was located. My teacher was a man in his late thirties name Mr. Ardin, and funny enough, he sat me next to Eric. His skin had a few breakouts here and there and his hair was a bit oily, but he was nice enough that it wasn't horrible. I chatted idly with him through the class about mundane things—like he really wanted to know what it was like living in the large, sunny city of Phoenix. He was nice, but not nearly as fun as Emmett.

After Chemistry, I had Trig with Bella, and Eric was nice enough to walk me there. I shuddered at the thought that I might be replacing Bella in the romantic aspect of his life, but I would get over it.

Like the book said, the Trig teacher, Mr. Varner, was the only one that made us introduce ourselves. Bella stuttered and blushed through her introduction, while I merely smiled and said childishly, "I'm Seri, and I like the color red."

Needless to say, that didn't earn me any points with Varner, but it did distract slightly from when Bella tripped over herself walking to her seat. Bella ended up sitting next to Jessica, who I learned really didn't ever shut up. The universe did me a solid and sat me next to Angela, who really was one of the sweetest people I'd ever met. She was nice enough to ask me to sit with them at lunch, and I, of course, accepted.

So, after the bell rang, Angela and I walked behind Jessica and Bella to lunch. We sat at a table with Mike, Lauren, Tyler, Ben, Eric, Jessica, and Angela.

And it was there, sitting at a table with seven other people who were constantly asking us questions, that I saw Bella see them. Well, after I had waved at Emmett and drew her attention to them, of course.

 _ **With the Cullens: Jasper's Point of View**_

Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, and I all sat around one of the circular tables in the corner of the cafeteria. Ever since we got in here, Emmett had been sending off excitement in waves, nearly causing me to bounce up and down in my seat. It was nice, with Emmett's emotions usually being so pure and happy, but right now it was beginning to be aggravating.

"Emmett," I finally snapped, "could you calm down?"

Sure, I could do it for him, but it wouldn't have quite the same effect. I also didn't like to interfere too much in how the others in our little 'family' were feeling, unless they asked me to.

"Sorry," Emmett apologized sheepishly, his emotions reflecting his sincerity.

"It's alright," I mumbled, going back to staring at the table.

Suddenly, Edward's head snapped to look at Emmett, and he angrily accused more than asked, "You talked to one of them?"

Immediately, Emmett's eyes darkened, and his emotions swirled together in a mix of protectiveness and anger. "That's none of your business. Stay out of my head."

"Emmett," Rosalie said warningly, "you know it is. The closer you get to one of them, the more danger you put the family in."

"Carlisle and Esme talk to others all the time, but I'm not allowed to make friends with one human?" Emmett spat, pouting in his chair. He shrugged off the hand Rosalie tried to place on his arm in a comforting gesture and crossed his arms.

"You know, he kind of has a point," I said, putting my two cents in the pot. I got the same confused mix of emotions from four different directions. It was understandable though, seeing as I was usually the one that opposed getting close to any human, mostly because I still didn't like being around them. But Emmett really was like a brother to me, and if he wanted to befriend just one, insignificant little human, then go for it.

"Who is it?" Alice asked Edward, most likely 'seeing' that Emmett wouldn't tell her.

"Seri Swan," Edward answered, his jaw clenched as he stared at Emmett.

"Seri Swan? Who's Seri Swan?" Alice asked, confused.

"Bella Swan's sister," Edward responded, seeing as Emmett had his nose stuck up in the air and his lips pursed.

Now I was curious. Alice had told me about the vision of Bella coming to town, and how she would be part of our family in the future as Edward's mate; however, she never said anything about a sister. Confusion swirled around Alice like a hurricane as she rubbed circles around her temples and mumbled to herself, "Sister? I didn't see a sister. Why didn't I see a sister? Why didn't I see this? Why didn't I see this!?"

I cut off my gift from her, her emotions becoming too overwhelming, and turned back to the others. Suddenly, the doors to the cafeteria opened, and two new scents blew into the room.

A few things happened in that instance.

The first thing that happened was that Edward's eyes, which had been slowly lightening back up, slammed back into pitch black as one of the largest bursts of bloodlust I'd ever felt hit me from his direction. I instinctively sent him a mix of emotions to counter it, and he sent me a wave of thankfulness in return.

The second thing that happened was that Emmett's emotions lightened back up, and he began to grin towards a specific spot in the cafeteria.

The third thing that happened was that I noticed sthe two new girls that were sitting at a table with a few of the others. One was a bit taller than the other, and had brown eyes, brown hair, and pale skin. I could understand why Edward reacted the way he did, as her scent was one of the sweetest I had ever smelled; however, I was more interested in the girl sitting next to her, who smelled like the wind on a rainy day mixed with lavender and vanilla. Unlike the other girl's, her scent didn't incite hunger, but instead a feeling of comfort, like being at home. She had dark auburn hair that fell down her back in large waves and her eyes were the color of the ocean on a stormy day. Her skin was lightly tanned, and a few freckles littered her cheeks and nose. Her emotions rivaled Emmett's in their purity, and they were full of things like content, joy, amusement, and a little bit of protectiveness.

As I watched the blue eyed girl, her eyes strayed over to our table, where her eyes suddenly lit up and her happiness skyrocketed. She grinned, and waved in our direction. Emmett's emotions of happiness, protectiveness, and, surprisingly a tiny amount of familial love roared about him as his grin widened and he waved enthusiastically back at her. So, that one was Seri Swan. That means the uncomfortable one with swirling bits of insecurity, wonder, and awe was Edward's future mate. Great.

I was assuming the wonder and awe came from the fact that she was now looking at us. The brunette girl, Bella, watched as Alice, becoming frustrated with her lack of seeing Seri, took her things and headed toward the trash can, telling us quietly that she needed some alone time to try to 'see'.

My curiosity soaring, I began listening in on the conversation occurring at their table.

"Who are _they?_ " Bella asked Jessica Stanley, who was sitting right next to her. Jessica's emotions brightened, probably at being able to gossip to someone who actually wanted to listen. Seri leaned her elbow onto the table, placing her chin in her hand so she would be able to see Jessica more easily while still being able to see us.

I noticed Edward's emotions flickered, bloodlust being the main emotion that came and went, and my eyes flitted over to him and saw him staring at Bella. Wonder and frustration began to weave its way into his emotions, making the bloodlust more insignificant.

 _What's wrong?_ I asked him silently, and, as he continued staring at the girl, he said, "I can't hear her."

We all knew what that meant. A little bit of jealousy flared up in Rosalie, Emmett, and even me. Sure, we'd learned how to mostly hide our thoughts from him, but it would still be nice not to have to run around mentally guarded all the time.

Edward suddenly looked back to the table, and I realized that, while he'd been staring at her for quite some time to me, in actuality he'd only looked at her for a split second. Bella also dropped her eyes, and Jessica giggled in embarrassment, the smallest touch of fear from her self-preservation instincts mixed in. Seri just rolled her eyes.

 _Can you hear the other one? Seri?_ I asked him. The corner of his mouth tilted up slightly as he said, "She just thought Jessica was a dumb blonde and that her sister looks so awestruck it's gross."

I looked toward Emmett as another thought cropped up into my mind and asked him, "Did she act like the other humans do?"

"You mean staring like idiots with drool hanging out of their mouths because they think we're so attractive, but also smell a little funky from fear because in the back of their minds they know we're dangerous?" he asked. I nodded and he happily said, "Nope. No funky smell and no drool. She did stare at me and call me a mountain though."

I don't know if it was Emmett's amusement or my own that made the corners of my mouth twitch at that statement. My mind turned back to the girl to confirm with her emotions, and found no awe, attraction, fear, or anything of the sort. My curiosity went up another level, and I tuned back into their conversation, watching them out of the corner of my eye.

"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife," Jessica said under her breath, like she was trying to tell them a secret.

Edward's lips twitched again, and I had to ask, "What?"

"Her thoughts are just…quite interesting. Seri's," he said, and I momentarily wished I had his gift, so I would know what she was thinking too.

"They are very…nice-looking," Bella said slowly, and Seri suddenly grinned toward her twin. Bella met her eyes and blushed, and embarrassment made itself known in her emotions.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed, not noticing the exchange, and I internally rolled my eyes. The girl was so self-absorbed it was disgusting. "They're all _together_ though—Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they _live_ together."

"It's not like they're all actually related, though," Seri said, disgust blooming into her own emotions. She turned towards Bella and continued, "Besides, I talked to him earlier, and the way he talks about Rosalie…" Seri turned her eyes towards us, and I noticed they connected with Rosalie's as she said, "it's like she's his whole world. He absolutely loves her with all his heart and soul, so I don't think it should matter if they live together or not."

I could feel Rosalie's emotions soften, and the little bit of jealousy and insecurity she felt when Emmett had spoken of the girl earlier dissipated; however, this didn't mean she wasn't still upset over the danger to the family, because she was.

"Well," Jessica said snootily, a bit of discomfort tinging her emotions, "I guess."

"Which ones are the Cullens?" Bella asked. "They don't look related…."

"Oh, they're not," Jessica said quickly. "Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales _are_ brother and sister, twins—the blondes—and they're foster children."

"They look a little old for foster children," Bella stated.

"What makes you think they weren't adopted, oh, I don't know, a few years ago?" Seri asked Bella while giving her a _duh_ look. Bella glared at her in return, a blush coming onto her cheeks as embarrassment once again swirled in her emotions. To my right, Emmett snorted and his shoulders shook as he tried to contain his laughter. Edward and I looked at each other with small grins, and even Rosalie's lips twitched slightly, amusement filling all our emotions.

"Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen now, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that," Jessica helped clarify.

"That's really kind of nice—for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything," Bella said. That was nice of her.

"I guess so," Jessica agreed reluctantly, and jealousy permeated her emotions as she added, "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though."

"And what, that makes them less kind?" Seri asked, calling Jessica out. Jessica stuttered for a moment before huffing and sitting there silently.

I was beginning to like this girl.

"Have they always lived in Forks?" Bella asked.

"They moved here two years ago from Alaska," Seri answered, before Jessica. I felt confusion and curiosity from Rosalie, Emmett, and Edward. The same emotions came from Bella as she turned to Seri and raised an eyebrow. Seri rolled her eyes and said, "Unlike you, I still spend the summers with Dad. It was big hype when they moved here. Apparently, Carlisle Cullen is a really good doctor. Good thing, too, since now you're here."

Bella made to elbow her sister in the ribs, causing Seri to laugh as Bella once again blushed. Pity and relief colored Bella's emotions, an odd combination, and she looked over at us again. Curiosity peaked Edward's emotions as he met her eyes before she quickly looked away again.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish-brown hair?" Bella asked as she peeked over at us again.

I smirked at the question as a small bit of lust entered Bella's emotions while Emmett laughed and said, "Look, Eddie, Belly-Boo has a crush on you!"

Edward became embarrassed and snapped at Emmett, "Don't call me Eddie!"

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently, none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him," Jessica sniffled.

"Or maybe he just doesn't like gossip whores," Seri whispered in Bella's ears. "I think you have a chance."

Bella put her hand over her mouth and giggled slightly, amusement taking place of the insecurity that had popped up when Jessica had said Edward doesn't date.

That was the last part of the conversation, and a few minutes later we all bid good-bye to each other and headed to our classes. I walked to building two for my American Wars class while Edward headed for Biology and Rosalie and Emmett headed to Spanish. As I walked in, I nodded to the teacher, an older man in his early fifties who somehow was able to retain a full head of hair named Mr. Roberts, and walked to the back of the room and sat down. I watched the rain fall and counted the drops as people began filing into the room, flipping the switch to my gift and ignoring them all.

Ignoring them, that is, until the scent of wind on a rainy day mixed with lavender and vanilla. I carefully opened my gift slightly, just enough to be able to feel only her emotions. Discomfort mixed with a light dose of courage and anxiety. Those were normal for someone on their first day at a new school, especially high school, so they weren't very interesting; the surprise as she looked as me, however, was.

Why was she surprised to see me?

"You'll be sitting in the back next to Mr. Hale," I heard Mr. Roberts tell her. She nodded to him and started walking back here. I straightened up in my seat and looked back out the window. I heard the chair scrape next to me as she pulled it out and the sound of her book hitting the table and her book bag hitting the floor. Her scent washed over me, and I closed my eyes for a moment to revel in it.

It was odd. I'd never smelt a human that had a scent that didn't incite hunger. All humans incited hunger, even if it was only a small bit that was easily ignored. Seri's scent, though, incited no hunger. Just comfort. It made me more relaxed, and I had the urge to speak to her like Emmett had. I had to wonder if Emmett felt the same way about her scent, if that's what made him want to be friends with her too.

The sound of books opening made me look around, and I had to look in the back of my mind to see what the teacher said and the forefront of my focus missed. We were supposed to be working on questions in the back of Chapter 12 in our books.

I let out a small breath and opened my book. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Seri already leaned over a piece of paper. Her hair fell over her shoulder and onto the paper where she was writing, and she brushed it back behind her ear. A couple seconds later, it fell again, and she brushed it back again. This happened three more times, each time making her more and more angry, until she finally snapped, letting out a small growl as she ripped a hair tie from around her wrist and pulled all her hair into a messy bun at the back of her head.

I couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped me.

She looked over at me with a small glare and said, "What? You trying to tell me you don't have the same problem?"

She had a point. My hair was almost chin length, and often fell in my eyes while I was working, so I just said, "You're right. Sorry." And then, as if I just couldn't help it, I added, "My name is Jasper Hale, by the way."

She smiled at me and laughed before saying, "I know. Emmett told me a little bit about you. Mostly your sister, but you too. I'm Seri."

"Oh?" I responded. "And what exactly did Emmett tell you about me?"

"Only a little," she admitted. "He said you're probably the quietest one of the family, and that you have a very big interest in the Civil War. No trade secrets or embarrassing moments. Promise."

"That's surprising. Usually Emmett likes to talk about every prank he's ever pulled on anyone, and there have been quite a few on me," I told her.

For a moment, her emotions went completely blank, and her eyes almost looked like they were glazed over. Worry began to well inside me, but about three-fourths of a second later, I felt her amusement and curiosity as she said, "Really? Any you care to share?"

It was odd, the way she went blank like that, but I let it slide since it lasted less than a second, and moved on.

I laughed, and just like that, I fell into the same easy friendship with the girl that Emmett had gotten berated for earlier. It was easy, like it was meant to happen, and I could already feel the same protective emotions that Emmett had emitted earlier. It was almost instinctive. Maybe it's because she was so small, and it, along with her humanity, made her seem very fragile. She was only a couple inches taller than Alice, maybe about five-one, so I had about eleven inches on her at my even six foot height. Though she was small, she had some pretty nice curves, and I noticed more than a few glances from boys and felt their lust as they looked at her. It was annoying, and usually when it happened I growled, low enough that no one would hear, but enough that they would instinctively know to look away.

All too soon, the bell rang, and Seri and I grabbed our bags and headed towards the door.

"What class do you have next?" I asked as we crossed through the door.

"Gym. With Bella," she said. Her tone sounded like she was reluctant to go, and I had to admit, I was reluctant to go too. She was an interesting human. She sighed as she turned toward the gymnasium and said, "Injuries are about to appear on people like flies on a fly strip."

"Well, then, good luck, Seri," I told her, watching her.

She smiled up at me and said, "Thanks. I'm going to need it. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," I said as she began walking away, then I turned and started toward my Calculus class.

 _ **Back with Seri**_

As I walked to the gym, I thought about what had happened last hour. I had officially made friends with two of the Cullens. What I didn't understand was why I didn't have a vision of Jasper beforehand. I had that vision of Emmett, but not one of Jasper. Seriously? What is with that? I had no idea what to do when I had sat down. Sure, Jasper had been one of my favorite characters in the books, but that didn't mean I knew exactly how to win his friendship. And I definitely hadn't expected him to start up a conversation, but hey, I'll take it. He was just as awesome as Emmett, too, just in a different way.

I saw Bella walking towards the gym with some blond guy, and I ran up to them while yelling, "Belly-Boo! I missed you!"

Bella laughed, the pensive and upset look on her face dissipating like I had hoped it would. The vision I'd had last period had been of Edward's decision not to kill her, so I'm assuming she may have been talking to blondie about the constipated look on Eddie's face.

"Hey, Seri," Bella said, before gesturing to the guy next to her. "This is Mike. He's in my Biology class, and he'll be in PE with us."

I leaned over to get a better look at Mike as I asked, "Do they offer full body padding and helmets? Because you're going to need it."

"Seri!" Bella said, embarrassed.

"What? The guy deserves a fair warning," I said, and Mike laughed. "So…what were you guys talking about before I came over?"

Bella cringed as Mike said, "Edward Cullen looking like Bella stabbed him last period."

I gasped dramatically and said, "Bella! I didn't know you had it in you!"

"I didn't _do_ anything!" she said exasperatedly. "I just sat next to him and he looked at me like I was gum on the bottom of his shoe."

"He's a weird guy," Mike said, as though he were trying to comfort her.

"Maybe his stomach hurt because he's been constipated for a few days. I bet it wasn't you at all," I told her. Mike laughed and waved goodbye as he walked to the boy's locker room. Bella smiled slightly, but I could tell she was still upset by the way Edward had acted.

The gym teacher, Coach Clapp, gave us both a set of gym clothes, but told us we could sit out after I told him about Bella being a danger magnet. He thought I was joking at first, then realized I was serious when Bella turned toward the locker rooms and tripped, falling on her knees. That was when he told us we could sit out.

The whole period then bounced between watching four volleyball games at the same time and talking about Bella's crush on Edward. At first she tried to deny it, but the way she blushed and stuttered told me differently. Eventually she admitted to it, and then tried to steer the conversation away from it by asking me about Emmett. I called her out on it, but told her about my budding friendship with both Emmett and Jasper.

Soon enough, the final bell rang, and Bella and I began our walk back to the office to turn in our paperwork. The rain had pretty much stopped, but the wind was a bitch, blowing colder and stronger than earlier in the day. Bella wrapped her arms around herself while I turtled it down into my coat and shirt.

Bella walked into the office in front of me, and I nearly ran into her when she suddenly froze. I followed her gaze to see Edward Cullen standing at the desk, trying to get his Biology class switched to a different one, while Ms. Cope continually told him that his schedule couldn't be changed.

The door swung open behind us, and a strong wind rushed over the both of us. The girl who came in walked around us, placed a note in one of the eighty wire baskets on the desk's counter, and walked back out. I watched as Edward's back stiffened, and he turned around to glare at Bella.

My protective instincts rose, and my back straightened as I began to stand taller, a growl starting up in the back of my throat. Bella, sensing that I was about to do something bad, placed a hand on my stomach. Edward's eyes moved from Bella to me, and I couldn't help but think at him as I glared back, _You got a problem, dickwad?_

He turned back to the receptionist and said hastily, "Never mind, then. I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help." With that, he turned, pushed through us, and left.

I nudged Bella forward to get her mind back on what we were here for, and we both stepped up to the desk and handed over our signed slips.

"How did your first day go, girls?" Ms. Cope asked maternally.

"Fine," Bella said, obviously lying.

Ms. Cope looked at me with questioning eyes, but I just ignored her and said, "It went well. Thank you."

As we walked out of the office and toward our trucks, I grabbed Bella's arm, pulling her to face me, and asked, "You going to be okay?"

She nodded, tears in her eyes. I sighed, bringing her into a soft hug. She hugged me back tightly, and I whispered into her hair, "Don't worry. It will get better, Bell. I promise."

She nodded again before pulling away, wiping a few tears that had escaped her eyes, and said, "I'll see you at home."

With that, she turned and walked away. I rolled my eyes and headed to my own truck, hopping in and heading home.

I better get prepared for a long week.


	3. Open Book

**A/N: Warning! If you are an Alice/Jasper fan, you may not want to continue. The story will eventually be a Seri/Jasper story, I just haven't decided exactly** _ **when**_ **yet. There is also some Alice bashing in this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable.**

I couldn't decide if the next day was better or worse. Bella woke up and was kind of sulky all morning. To be honest, it was kind of annoying. She'd just met the guy. It wasn't like they'd swapped spit and been dating for a year. I mean, damn.

Once I got to school, I skipped into art class. Emmett was already there, and he grinned widely and waved to me once I got inside. He automatically began chatting animatedly once I got within five feet of him, and we spent the class period jesting and teasing each other once again. As we left the room, I made Emmett walk in front of me, and as soon as we made it out the door, I ran and jumped up onto his back, yelling, "I am Godzilla! I will crush the tiny human peasants!"

That set off another ground-shaking bout of laughter from Emmett that I reveled in before he set me down and we separated. The rest of the morning went similarly. I made idle chat with Eric in Chemistry and helped out Angela during Trig. Bella and I sat with the same group as yesterday for lunch, and I could tell Bella was tired. I spent most of the lunch period trying to cheer her up and make her laugh.

American Wars was a lot of fun. Mr. Roberts announced we were going to begin studying the Civil War. I automatically turned and grinned at Jasper. Today, we were supposed to be reading the first section of the chapter with our table partners.

As we opened our books, I had to laugh because Jasper had the biggest look of disgust I had ever seen on his face.

"What?" Jasper asked, disgust evident in his voice as he scanned the page. His fingers barely touched the page as he flipped them over to see how long the section was, as though if he touched it long enough the incorrect facts would worm their way into his brain and corrupt the truth.

My laugh turned belly-aching as I tried to answer, "Y-You! Your face!"

"My face?" Jasper asked, bringing one of his hands up to caress his own cheek. I would have laughed harder if I could.

"You look so-so disgusted," I said, trying to calm down; however, I couldn't help the small giggles that continued to escape me.

"It's not my fault they get so many facts wrong," Jasper said, disgust back on his face.

I snorted. "Well, not all of us can become one with someone from the Civil War ages like you seem to have done."

Jasper's face turned suddenly serious and his back stiffened as he asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Funny. I would have thought the way I worded that wouldn't have caused any suspicion, but he was acting like I had just stood up on the table and screamed, "I know you're a vampire!" in his face.

Instead, I just told him calmly, as though I was stating a fact, "Well, it's like you told me yesterday. You have a bunch of old journals from the families of soldiers and from different soldiers, and if you really have read them all and understand them, then you have all the knowledge of a person from that era, making it kind of like you were there."

He stared at me for a few moments before he relaxed and said, "You know, that actually makes sense."

I flipped my hair over my shoulder and said proudly, "I have my moments." Jasper just grinned at me and I rolled my eyes. I nodded back to the open books on the table with a smile and said, "Come on, Soldier Boy. Let's get to work before we get yelled at."

"Soldier Boy, huh?" Jasper asked, laughing. I just smiled at him in response and we got to reading. I was just glad he was back to being comfortable.

During gym, we were actually supposed to be playing, and I managed to skillfully dodge most of Bella's sad misfires while we played volleyball. One girl didn't get so lucky, and got nailed in the back of the head so hard she fell on the ground. I laughed so hard that Coach Clapp made me sit out. Bella's face was beet red for the rest of the period.

After we got home, I grabbed the jar labeled FOOD MONEY that Charlie kept on his kitchen counter. Bella had discovered that Charlie had no idea how to cook anything but breakfast foods and barely had any food in the house, and so, she decided she would take over kitchen duty. I'd usually cooked for us during the summers, but I wasn't nearly as good and didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Bella did, so I was happy to hand it over.

After grabbing the jar, I hopped in Bella's truck with her and she pulled out of the driveway, heading to the store. The Thriftaway wasn't far from the house, and I could tell Bella was happy at the familiarity of being in a store. She was the one that actually did the shopping in our house. I usually went with to keep her company and try to talk her into buying things we didn't really need. This time it was a bag of Kit-Kats and a bag of Dum-Dum suckers. I tried to get her to buy a dozen double-chocolate cupcakes, but she refused and said she'd rather make them. I didn't argue. As long as I got some chocolate cupcakes, I didn't care where they came from.

When we got home, I helped Bella unload the groceries, stuffing them in every little crevice I could find. After we finished putting away groceries, I helped Bella start dinner by wrapping potatoes in foil while she put them in the oven and covered some steak in marinade. After we did that, we separated to do homework. Bella went upstairs to work in the peace and quiet while I stayed downstairs and turned the TV on so I could listen to the scores to a random football game while I worked.

Bella came downstairs after about an hour and a half. I was sitting on the couch with my feet propped up on the coffee table watching one of the hundred crime scene shows that was on after having finished my homework over forty-five minutes ago. She plopped down on the couch next to me, curling her feet up next to her, with her favorite copy of _Wuthering Heights_ on her lap.

"Mom is freaking out because you haven't emailed her back yet. If it's as bad as mine, she should have sent you at least three," Bella informed me as she opened up her book.

I rolled my eyes and said, "She should know by now that I never look at my email. If she wants to talk to me that bad, she can call me."

Bella just sighed and started reading her book. I went back to my show. About forty-five minutes later, I heard the door open and Dad called, "Seri? Bella?"

"Nope! It's a burglar that's trying to learn how to be a better intruder by watching crime shows on your TV," I yelled back, and Bella giggled next to me.

"Hey, Dad, welcome home," Bella called. Suddenly, her face went blank as she quickly jumped up and ran into the kitchen, crying,"The food!"

I jumped up behind her to see if I could help. Mostly, I was curious to see if the food was burned or not. Bella let out a breath of relief when I walked into the kitchen. She was pulling out the potatoes. Guess they didn't burn.

"Need any help?" I asked politely; however, Bella just shook her head and said, "No. I'm good."

I shrugged and leaned against the kitchen table, wanting to be in the room that everyone else was in even if I didn't have a reason to be. Dad hung up his gun belt and stepped out of his boots next to the door while Bella ran around the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" Charlie asked, his voice wary. He must have been thinking about Renee's 'experimental' cooking. It never turned out well. One time she tried to make spaghetti and she put salsa instead of tomato sauce in it and then burned it all.

But just to have a little fun, I put on the saddest expression I could, somehow managing to bring tears to my eyes, and looked up at him as I said in a small voice, "You didn't like my cooking?"

Dad, thinking I was one hundred percent that I thought he was thinking about my cooking when he said that, turned to me with a face almost full of panic. His hands started twitching at his sides, like he was trying to figure out how to comfort me, and he flushed, stuttering, "No! No, Seri! You're cooking was…it was great! I don't know why you'd think…"

"It's okay, Dad," I said brightly in the middle of his stuttering. "Bella cooks way better than I do anyway."

"I…uh…" Charlie stuttered, figuring out I was playing with him. His cheeks turned a couple shades darker as he mumbled, "Mmm."

"We're having steak and potatoes," Bella answered, probably trying to distract Charlie. Charlie nodded to her, a relieved expression on his face, and then kind of stood in the kitchen awkwardly.

I rolled my eyes at the tension, and, wanting to help Dad out, said, "If you don't need my help, I'm going to go watch TV in the living room."

Then I walked out of the room. Dad joined me a few seconds later.

A little while later, Bella called to tell us that dinner was ready. Dad and I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the small table as Bella set the potatoes, steak, and a bowl of salad on the center of the table. She took a seat next to me after she was done, and the beginning of dinner was conducted pretty much in silence, aside from when Bella and I teamed up to pester Dad about eating a little more salad with his steak until he finally caved.

"So," Charlie began as he took seconds, "how are you guys liking school? Have you made any friends?"

I hastily stuffed my mouth with a big bite of potatoes to avoid the question, motioning for Bella to go ahead with her answer. It wasn't that I didn't want Charlie to know about my friendship with Emmett and Jasper, it was that I didn't like the look I would be given. There were two that I had gotten since I had begun school: the look of jealousy, mixed with a little bit of hatred, and the one of complete wonder and curiosity. The latter, oddly enough, being the one I hated the most. It was like they were wondering what was so special about me that the Cullens felt the need to be friends with _me._ Just a random new girl. It was also the look that Charlie was bound to give me, since he wasn't the jealous, filled with hatred type.

"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica. Seri and I sit with her at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice," Bella said, staring at her plate as she swirled salad around with her fork.

"Must be Mike Newton. Nice kid—nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here." I muffled a snort. Charlie sounded like he was trying to sell Bella into dating Mike Newton.

"Do you know the Cullen family?" Bella asked hesitantly after a few moments of silence.

"Dr. Cullen's family?" No, the other Cullen family. You know, the ones who live in a van down by the river? "Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."

"They…the kids…are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school."

Charlie, before Bella could say anything more, looked angry, and began what looked like a rant by saying, "People in this town…Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here." He took a deep breath before continuing, getting louder, "We're lucky to have him—lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature—I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I could say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should—camping trips every other weekend….Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Bella was wide-eyed while she stared at Charlie, surprise written all over her face. It was obvious she'd never seen Charlie go off on a tangent like this. I, on the other hand, had seen this rant a few different times and a few different ways when Charlie would visit with Billy, Harry, and sometimes Old Quil Ateara. It seemed that they felt compelled to bring up how Charlie should be careful about being around the Cullens every once in a while, setting Charlie off. They'd toned it down over the years, but it still happened, as if they wanted to remind him of their opinions.

"They seem very nice to me," Bella tried to calm Charlie down. "I just notice they keep to themselves. Except for with Seri." She mumbled that sentence, and Charlie didn't seem to notice. Still, my back stiffened. "They're all very attractive."

Charlie laughed. "You should see the doctor. It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around." He went to dig his fork into a potato, but froze a second later. He looked back up at Bella with a confused expression and said, "What did you say about Seri?"

I was back to sitting in my chair like a corn cob was stuck up my butt. Bella, thinking it wasn't a big deal, just shrugged and responded, "Just that she seems to be friends with them."

Charlie looked back at me, and I gave him an innocent smile as he asked, "Really? And why didn't you say something before?"

I just shrugged, doing my best as I responded as nonchalantly as possible, "I sit next to a couple of them during class. We talk. It's really not that big of a deal."

Bella looked at me like I was weird, probably because she expected me to say more. Charlie nodded, seemingly accepting my simple answer, and went back to eating. We lapsed back into silence after that, and finished eating. Charlie and I cleared the table, and then I helped Bella hand wash the dishes since there was no dishwasher while Dad went to watch TV in the living room. Bella looked at me suspiciously as we did them, and finally I had to say, "Bella, will you please stop looking at me like I just lied to the president of the United States? I really don't think it's that big of a deal, okay?"

"Sorry," she mumbled, going back to washing dishes. "It's just, when you talk about them, it's like you guys are already best friends."

I snorted, wiping down one of the dishes with a towel. "I've only known them for two days and I only have one period with them. Maybe eventually, we'll be closer, but for now, we're just starting out, just like any other relationship."

"I know," Bella sighed. "I just…I don't know…"

"Feel left out because you are so curious about them and I actually _talk_ to them?" I finished for her. She nodded, her face glum. "They haven't told me anything we don't already know. Really, you're not missing out on anything. I promise."

Bella nodded, looking a little brighter now that I had told her they hadn't said anything to me. I did know more than she did, but it wasn't considered lying because they hadn't _told_ me anything. Loop holes, baby.

After that, Bella and I went upstairs so I could help her with her math homework. She was good at English, since she was actually into all the old books they wanted us to read, while I was good at math. Bella happened to be absolutely horrible at math, so she got a free tutor in me. Once the horror and frustration of trying of teach Bella how to divide polynomials was over, it was late, so we took turns showering and headed to bed.

The rest of the week was intensely boring. I hated routine, and I was ready for the exciting part of the story to begin instead of the lameness that was currently happening. To try to quell the boredom, I spent the rest of the week trying to learn every students name and face. It was pretty successful as well.

My only other issue, besides how boring it was, was how anxious Bella was. Every day when we got to school, she would look around the parking lot to see if Edward got out of his ugly little Volvo. After that, she would mope until lunch. Then she would get anxious again, trying to see if he was sitting with his family. Then she would mope again for the rest of the day. Not to mention, when she would mope, she also somehow convinced herself she was 'relaxing' because she knew he wouldn't be there to glare at her. Whatever.

By Friday, she was so anxious that, at lunch, she asked me if I could talk to Jasper and see if I could get any information on when Edward was supposed to be back. She was starting to get good at hiding her emotions, and almost looked like she was just curious about a friend that was missing too much school. I couldn't take it anymore, so I told her I would ask, if only to get her to stop being so annoying.

So when Jasper walked into American Wars that day, he found me already there, gently pounding my forehead into the tabletop of my desk. He slid gracefully into the chair beside me and then sat there and stared at me, probably trying to see if I would stop due to his presence. I didn't.

After a few minutes had gone by, he finally said, "Um…should I be concerned?"

"I. Can't. Take. It. Any. More." I punctuated each syllable with a bang of my head to the desk.

"Can't take what?" Jasper asked, catching my head as it went toward the desk again and turned my face toward him. He brought his other hand up to the sore spot on my forehead, and I nearly moaned at the feeling of his cool hands on my throbbing skin.

"It's Bella," I groaned out, pouting. "She keeps switching between anxious and mopey while convincing herself she's fine because your stupid brother hasn't shown up to school since Monday when she developed Romeo and Juliet syndrome."

"Romeo and Juliet syndrome?" Jasper asked, a small smile on his lips.

"Yep," I said, reaching up to remove his cold hand from my now-almost-numb forehead. "Damn. Your hands are better than an icepack. Wish I could keep you in my freezer for when Bella gives me headaches."

Well, that was kind of creepy. I probably shouldn't have said that out loud.

"Bad circulation," he mumbled, looking at Mr. Roberts, who was now teaching. I swear, the man must be almost deaf. Jasper and I usually talk through most of his lesson, and he never notices. How sad.

"You say 'bad circulation', I say 'useful as fuck', especially in my house," I said, trying to show I wasn't suspicious of anything. Though, I don't know why I would be. They really haven't done anything that was suspicious. Except Edward acting hostile and leaving right after sitting next to my sister in a class. Speaking of Edward… "Do you know when Eddie boy is supposed to be back? If it isn't soon, I may overdose on aspirin because of the headaches Bella's mood swings give me."

Jasper just shook his head, his eyes almost going somewhere else. "I don't know. He's had the flu all week. He's been better the last couple of days though."

"He needs to get better quicker," I mumbled, pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil to take the notes Mr. Roberts was putting on the board. He also needed to get his head out of his ass, but I couldn't say that. Yet.

The weekend seemed to pass by pretty quickly. I mostly hung out with Bella, who actually seemed as if she had gotten her emotions in order, thank God. We talked about the trip that the group we sit with at lunch was talking about taking to La Push. I was all for it, seeing as I hadn't visited any of my friends from the reservation since we had gotten here. Charlie worked most of the weekend, so I watched TV while Bella cleaned the house, worked on homework, and wrote to our mother. Bella went to the library on Saturday and came back disappointed. Hey, I had told her it sucked and that if she wanted a decent book, she would have to go to either Port Angeles or Seattle, but she didn't listen.

On Monday, multiple people greeted both me and Bella in the parking lot, and when we went to class. Emmett was in the middle of telling me a joke while we made horrible pottery when I noticed the white fluff falling from the sky. I gasped and ran over to the window, getting fingerprints and breath marks all over the glass as I glued myself there. My eyes tried to follow each of the little cotton fluffs as they fell to the ground, my body lighting up with excitement.

This was the first time I had ever seen snow in real life. I had seen it on TV before, of course, but we had lived in Phoenix, where the low all year was, like sixty-five degrees. And I had never been to Forks in the winter before.

"Seri?" I heard Emmett call, and when I didn't move from the window, I felt the air behind me drop in temperature as he moved to stand behind me. Tilting my head up, I saw Emmett leaning over me, staring out the window to see what I saw. "What are you looking at?"

"The snow," I answered, going out to look out the window. "I've never seen it before. It's beautiful."

"You've never seen snow before?" Emmett asked incredulously.

I shook my head. "Nope. We lived in Phoenix for almost eight years, and before that it was California. It's always hot there, so I've never actually seen real snow."

"Huh," Emmett said thoughtfully. "So you've never had a snowball fight or built a snowman?"

"No," I said sadly. "I've always wanted to though."

"Mr. Cullen, Ms. Swan, what are you doing by the window?" Ms. Julian asked as she came back in the room.

I'm sure it was comical, the way Emmett and I turned in unison and said, "Looking at the snow."

Yep. She was giving us a weird look, and I could feel Emmett shaking in silent laughter beside me at her expression. It was pretty funny.

"Well, could you both go back to your seats and continue your pottery, please?" she asked politely.

"Yes, ma'am," we both said, and walked back to our table where we could laugh at the way she reacted to us together.

Almost everyone was talking about the snow excitedly. Mr. Varner made me stay after class for Trig, trying to accuse me of cheating on the test he had given us that was basically a pretest to see what we knew about the next chapter. I had gotten a one hundred on it. I tried to explain to him that my school in Phoenix had wanted to bump me up to Calculus, but he didn't believe that I was really just that good at math. He actually made me take another, smaller version of the pretest with different problems while he watched. Luckily, it only had five problems and I got it done quickly.

As I was walking to the cafeteria, I could see a gargantuan man, a blond woman, a small person, another blond that was male, and a redhead. I grinned, and I tentatively looked into the future to see if my plan would work out. It did.

Slowly, I stooped down to gather a small ball of snow in my hands before stalking closer to where they were all standing. They seemed to be in deep conversation, but my vision showed me that they wouldn't mind if I interrupted them. Luckily, the conversation _was_ deep enough to distract from my scent and the crunching of my shoes in the snow. As soon as I was within fifteen feet of them, I let the snowball loose, effectively hitting Emmett in the back of the neck.

I was pretty sure they couldn't actually feel it hitting them, but the wetness that came with it. This proved to be true as Emmett reached to the back of his neck to feel what had hit him, and I couldn't help but giggle. The sound caught their attention, and they all turned—too quickly to be human, I might add—and Emmett's face lit into a grin when he saw it was me.

"You better run, Little Red," he said, using his nickname for me. "Because you just started a war."

I squealed and started running toward Jasper as Emmett began collecting snow, dragging my hand on the ground to collect some of my own on the way. Jasper let out a deep, throaty laugh as I tried to dart behind him, catching me and holding me in front of him as Emmett nailed me with a snowball. I squealed again, and in retaliation, I smashed the snow in my hand on the top of his head. He released me in surprise, and I instead ran towards Edward, laughing, as Jasper wiped the snow off his head. Just as I had last time, I collected snow as I ran behind Edward, and he gave me a confused look as I ran behind him. I just winked at him.

It seemed like life hit pause when Emmett was hit with another snowball, this time in the chest. Everyone looked around, and I momentarily locked eyes with Rosalie, knowing it was her who threw it, and she smirked. Smirking back, I carefully reached up on my toes while everyone was distracted and smashed the snow in my hand on Edward's hair, laughing maniacally when he looked at me like I had betrayed him. I laughed even harder when a snowball suddenly connected with the side of his face.

A couple of seconds later, there was a full-blown snow war happening between the Cullens and me. Even Alice, who had whined about messing up her hair when Emmett flicked some snow on her. She, surprisingly, had been the last one to join. I had thought she would have been one of the first, since in the book she had seemed more pixie-like. Right now, she looked like a grouchy gnome instead.

When they were distracted, I carefully headed off to the cafeteria, my hunger getting to me. I was going to tell them I was leaving, but they looked like they were having too much fun to break it up. As I walked away, I wondered when they were going to notice I was gone.

 _ **Jasper's Point of View**_

I laughed as Rosalie shoved a handful of snow down the back of Emmett's shirt. Looking around, I wondered if Seri had thought it was just as funny as I did, but I couldn't hear her laughter. I didn't see her either. My amusement became watered down as I looked around, not seeing her, before trying to find her scent. Once I finally found it, I also found the trail her shoes had left in the snow, and saw that they led inside.

"Hey, where did Seri go?" Emmett asked, shaking the last of the snow from his shirt. It seemed like our snowball fight was over for now.

"I think she went inside," I said, and began walking to the cafeteria's entrance. Emmett pulled up beside me, giving me a brotherly push with his shoulder, which I returned. It was odd. When I first came to the Cullens with Alice, I was still pent up and on guard at all times from just coming out of the wars. Emmett had been the one that was willing to spar with me when the tension got too high, and he was the one I had gotten closest to. But since Seri had come, I had been much more comfortable with the others in the house, and had gotten even closer to Emmett. I hadn't been this relaxed since I was human.

Once we got inside and sat down, I located Seri, who was sitting next her sister at her usual table. Apparently sensing my gaze on her, she turned toward us and grinned, which I returned.

"Well, that was fun," Emmett said, drawing my attention to him. He was still standing up and over all of us, leaning on the table with his arms and a mischievous grin on his face. A moment later, he began to shake his head like a dog that just got a bath, spraying us with the water from his hair. All of us laughed at his antics, except for Alice, who whined about her hair once again and got a small compact out of her purse that had a mirror built in. She then began to start fixing her hair.

Alice had been a bit…different since Monday. She had just seemed a little more whiny than I had noticed before. I didn't know if it was something that I had just never noticed before or if it was new, so I hadn't said anything. She'd also been more distant as of late, especially at the house. She spent most of her time trying to see into the future, but all she could see was Bella. She never saw Seri, and I think she was beginning to become a little obsessive over it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward look over toward where Seri was sitting, and turned to look too. As I looked over, Bella looked down, and Seri looked at me. Once we locked eyes, she rolled hers, then made a small 'x' over her heart and discreetly pointed to her sister. I almost laughed.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," I heard Jessica Stanley whisper.

"He doesn't look angry, does he?" I heard Bella say back.

Edward's emotions told me he was offended, and I couldn't help but think, _Well, what is she supposed to think, especially after she heard you trying to switch the only class you have with her and acted like an ass the whole time?_

He scowled at me, but he knew I was right.

"I don't think he likes me," Bella confided in Jessica, her emotions a little queasy.

"The Cullens don't like anybody…well, they don't notice anybody enough to like them. Except Seri," Jessica said snidely. Seri just looked at her with a blank face, but I could feel anger boiling in her emotions. "But he's still staring at you."

It was funny how Jessica only noticed how Edward was staring, but not me. I guess that was a benefit of the population thinking I was taken by Alice. But I suppose I've always been the one that isn't noticed or thought about. It was one of the things that made me so dangerous in the wars: the underestimation.

"Stop looking at him," Bella hissed at Jessica, agitation entering her emotions.

Seri chuckled, amusement permeating her emotional aura, and she said, "Maybe he realized how much of an asshole he was being. Or he found the stick that was shoved up his butt and got someone to pull it out."

"Shut up," Bella mumbled into her arms, but her emotions became a bit lighter. I smirked at the scowl on Edward's face.

Their conversation became a bit boring then, talking about a snowball fight in the parking lot after school. Emmett and I began playing rock, paper, scissors, with Edward grinning as he read out minds about who was going to win. Rosalie and Alice were talking about the upcoming fashions, and I mentally groaned at the thought. I missed wearing old t-shirts and holy jeans. My favorite pair of cowboy boots were tucked away in a box in the top of our closet. I wasn't all that into the clothes Alice got us to wear, but it made her happy, so I continued to let her dress me.

Finally, it was time for American Wars. We were in the school's tiny media center, which consisted of six rows of books and twelve total computers. I think that was the real reason the desks in all the classrooms were set up for two people—so when they came to work at the computers they could work in pairs. We were supposed to be looking up answers to questions about the life of a soldier during the Civil War that were on a worksheet we were given when we walked in.

Seri had met up with me outside the room, and had snatched the paper for us when she walked past Mr. Roberts and to one of the computers. She sat directly in front of the computer, while I sat a little off to the side. I made to grab the paper, and she swiped it away from my fingers as she concentrated on actually getting on the computer.

I pouted. "Why can't I see it?"

She looked at me, smiling, and said, "Because you probably know all the answers already. It's no fun if you just tell me the answers. I actually want the satisfaction of finding the answers myself."

"What if I promise not to tell you the answers?" I asked, trying to make a deal.

She looked at me skeptically before saying slowly, "You promise?"

"Cross my heart, darlin'," I said, making an 'x' over my heart with my finger. My eyes widened a fraction of a second later when I realized my accent had slipped out. I hoped she didn't notice.

"Fine," she said, handing the paper over for me to read. I nearly sighed in relief. Nothing in her emotions suggested she had noticed the slip. That is, until she said, "Nice accent. You really shouldn't hide it."

I had no response to that, so I just looked at the questions on the paper. I wasn't supposed to have it since Rosalie didn't, and Alice didn't like it at all. She had never said so out loud, but her emotions spoke louder than words. It was a little hard for me to understand, considering we were supposed to be mates, but I didn't want to think about it. Because if I did think about, I would think about all the things Alice had changed about me since she picked me up in Philadelphia, some that I didn't like, and some that I did. Then I would start thinking about how annoying she was getting lately, like I was earlier.

"You okay, Jasper?" Seri suddenly asked. She didn't look away from the computer screen, idly clicking on different things. Her emotions showed concern, worry, and a certain amount of care that hadn't been there before.

"I'm fine," I said quietly. But then I thought, Seri is a girl. Alice is a girl. Maybe she could give me some advice? "Actually…Can I… ask you about something?"

"Jasper," she said softly, turning to look at me. She met my eyes and said in a soothing tone, "You know you can talk to me about anything."

I took a deep breath. Her words got into my head, and all I could think was, _No. I can't tell you just_ anything. But I would tell her as much as I can. "It's Alice."

She was surprised. "Your girl?"

It wasn't that much of a surprise that she was surprised. I don't think I had ever said anything about Alice in any of our conversations before, so it was a little odd. In fact, it felt a little odd to be calling Alice my girlfriend. Everyone else was the one that would say that, so I never had to voice it. It was even weirder to be talking about it with Seri, but I just said, "Yeah."

"Okay," she said slowly. "What about Alice?"

"She's been…different lately," I began, trying to figure out how to explain this to her. "I've been noticing some things about her. Things I don't like. Like the way she was so concerned about her hair earlier when we were having the snowball fight instead of getting into it. Even Rosalie got into it, and she usually would have been the last one of us to do something like that. And she's been more distant, hasn't been spending much time with me, or any of the family really. She's become kind of obsessive over," I paused for a second, trying to figure out how to word it so Seri both wouldn't know Alice couldn't see the future and that it was her she couldn't see. "Over something she can't control."

I could feel her emotions shift. Disappointment, disgust, betrayal, anger, and then acceptance. I didn't understand it, and I looked at her face as she looked at the computer screen, trying to see if I could decipher the meaning behind her emotions. That was the one thing I hated about my gift; it told me the emotions, but not the reasons for those emotions. Her face was thoughtful, and showed none of the emotions that I could feel her giving off.

She was confusing sometimes.

"Well," Seri started, "have you talked to her about any of your concerns?"

I shook my head, sighing. I didn't want to talk to her about it, because I didn't want to start conflict with her. She had been my savior since she found me in that diner in Philadelphia fifty-seven years ago and brought me to the Cullen family. Sure, we had been drifting apart lately—even before Seri and Bella had gotten here. But I owed her.

"That would be the first step. Talk about your concerns. If she doesn't want to accept your concerns or ignores them, then…." Seri shrugged and looked at me. "Then it's your decision on what to do then."

I nodded, and she turned back to the computer to look up the next question on the worksheet. I could feel that she wanted to say something else, but as time went on, I knew she wouldn't say anything unless I asked. And I had to ask, "What is it?"

Seri looked at me again. Then she asked me, the most serious I'd heard her, "Is this you asking me to tell you my opinion on your problem? Because I'm not going to say anything if you don't want it. I'd rather have you mad at me for something you _did_ ask for rather than something you _didn't_ ask for."

I thought for a moment before nodding. Maybe this would give me some insight into her emotions.

"Get ready for a slight rant," she said, taking a deep breath. "Your girlfriend sounds like a control freak. She has to have everything her way. Obviously, you've been with her for who-knows-how-long, so it doesn't bother you that much, but if she _is_ a control freak, then she might not take your concerns and opinions as something that counts to her. And I _don't_ think that's okay. So just be careful, okay? Don't let yourself get sucked into the problem that sounds like it's hers and hers alone."

She was completely sincere and said all of this with concern, and a deep love that was reserved for the closest of friends swept over me warmly. Her words did piss me off slightly, but not enough to throw her words in the trash can. I could understand where she was coming from, and she was obviously concerned with my emotional side, like a good friend should be.

So, I shook off the pissed off feeling and said, "The answer to number eleven is C."

"Jasper," she whined jokingly. "You promised!"

I laughed, and the rest of the period went on, with Seri's words about Alice in the back of my mind.

 _ **Back to Seri**_

After American Wars was over, I stood outside, waiting to see if I could find Bella and her faithful puppy Mike walking to the gym. I couldn't believe Jasper had asked me for relationship advice, or that I had ranted about his girlfriend to him. Alice being a control freak had been something I'd thought since I'd read the books. I'd been hoping, since Jasper was a little different than he appeared in the books, that Alice would be a little different too. That hope was shot down with a titanium arrow today.

Bella and Mike were talking again when I found them, this time talking about how Edward seemed more friendly today. I'd hope so, considering he'd spent the last week running around Alaska. Since they had just come out of Biology II, I asked them what they had done last period. Mike then began his long, slightly amusing story about the horrors of poking himself in the eye with the microscope while we walked to the gym.

Bella told me about her more pleasant conversation with Edward as we got dressed in the locker room, and I couldn't help but say, "So he _did_ pull that corn cob out of his butt."

Bella swatted me gently in reprimand, but in her eyes, I could see she was smiling. Bella and Mike ended up on the same team during gym, and he managed to get out of the way every time the ball went towards Bella.

It was misting outside as Bella and I walked to our trucks. It felt good after being in the hot gym, but I could tell Bella wasn't all that big of a fan. As I followed Bella home, I nearly peed my pants when she suddenly slammed on the brakes, causing me to do the same. I couldn't figure out why it had happened, since all I could see was an old, crusty Toyota Corolla rolling out of the same row we were in. Looking to my right, I saw Edward, Alice, and Rosalie standing outside the Volvo, and my head hit the horn as I hit my head on the steering wheel when I noticed Edward staring at Bella's truck in front of me. Seriously, Bella?


	4. Phenomenon

**Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.**

When I opened my eyes that morning, I should have just rolled over and went back to sleep.

My day started as usual. When I got up, I noticed it was lighter than normal, and I looked outside to see snow on the road and ice on the trees where the rain from yesterday had frozen over. I didn't think anything of it.

It wasn't until later, when I was making my morning visit to the toilet, that the vision hit me.

 _Bella was standing by her truck, staring at the tires. I was walking up to her, and noticed that Charlie had put snow chains on the tires. Good. Bella's tires were pretty bald. I carefully leaned on the truck next to her and said, "That was nice of Charlie. We need to get you some new tires soon."_

 _Bella jumped, and I giggled at her. She let out a breath and said, "Why do you feel the need to scare me like that?"_

" _Why do you always feel the need to be unobservant when I'm around?" I shot back._

 _She gave me that look that said,_ Really? You're going to go there?

 _I smiled sweetly at her, twisting my body in a cute way to make myself look like a little kid. Bella opened her mouth to say something, but I couldn't hear her over the sound of the screech of locked tires on pavement. My head snapped to the side, and I saw a large dark blue van heading straight for us._

 _I reacted on instinct, pushing Bella out of the way. She skidded a few feet away from me, and I mentally sighed in relief when I saw she was out of the way; however, when I pushed her, the momentum was causing me to fall towards the ground._

 _The last thing I saw was the chrome and black coloring of the van's tire heading for my face before it went black._

I spent the next three minutes looking for other possibilities for this vision. My visions were similar to Alice's in the way that black equaled dead. Seriously? I only lasted, like, four chapters into this freaking book? Are you _fucking_ serious?

Finally, I gave up. This vision was solid, so either I was going to die, or I just didn't see that far into the future. I decided I was going to have to act as normal as I could. Bella could tell when I was jittery, and I didn't need her freaking out over nothing. If it was nothing.

Wow, I was morbid this morning. Stupid vision.

Charlie was gone by the time Bella and I got downstairs this morning. Bella was rather happy-go-lucky this morning, and I, of course, being me, had to comment on it. She stuttered and blushed, and I teased her, saying that she was so bright today because she was going to get to see Edward again. Her face was tomato red as she ate her cereal.

When we headed out to get in our cars, I told her to be careful before I hopped in my own truck. I knew she would be fine, thanks to the vision I had this morning, but sometimes the little things can make someone's day better.

I blasted music and sang horribly off-key as I drove to school, trying to distract myself. At least my vision would happen quickly, and I wouldn't have to be anxious all damn day.

As I pulled into the school's parking lot, I turned down the music. Once I pulled into a parking space, I turned my truck off and leaned my head against the top of the steering wheel. I took a couple of deep breaths, and tried to shake off the fear. After a couple moments, I let out another deep breath, nodded to myself, and hopped out of my truck.

Bella was parked a couple rows away from me, and I carefully walked over there, trying to avoid most of the patches of ice that littered the parking lot. It was no wonder Tyler's van went out of control. The school didn't use enough rock salt on the damn parking lot.

As I approached Bella's truck, I saw her standing there, staring at her tires. I dropped my book bag quietly on the ground next to me, and then carefully leaned against the truck. Looking toward her tires, I saw that they were balder than I had originally thought, and said aloud, "Damn. I didn't think your tires were _that_ bald. Good thing Charlie thought to put snow chains on them."

Bella jumped, her head snapping up to look at me. I had to giggle at her. She was breathing heavily with her hand over her heart, and she glared at me and said, "Why do you feel the need to scare me like that?"

"Why do you always feel the need to be so unobservant when I'm around?" I shot back.

Oh. There it was. The really-fucking-really face. Beautiful. It looks exactly like it did in the visions, but better.

She opened her mouth to retort, but my ears were busy being filled with the screeching of tires. My head whipped to the side, and all I could see was Tyler's van headed for Bella. My arms instinctively shot out, and I heard Bella scream as she landed a few feet behind the truck and away from where the van would hit. I, on the other hand, managed to catch myself before my head hit the ground. When I looked over, I saw my vision being fulfilled as I saw Tyler's tire headed for my face, and I closed my eyes, accepting my fate.

The sound of metal being smashed together caught my attention, and pain suddenly erupted in my ankle. I let out a small cry, and I suddenly felt something icy on my face. My eyes opened, and, above me, was the most beautiful sight I could have ever hoped for.

Jasper hovered above me, gently stroking my cheek. His lips were moving, but I didn't know what he was saying. I was too busy looking around me.

Somehow, I was now on my back. No idea how that had happened. I was shoved between Bella's truck and Tyler's van, with Jasper crouched over me. Looking over, I saw that Tyler's tire, the one that had been headed toward me, was now a few feet away from me. A large part of the side of Tyler's van was crushed, and I could see two distinct handprints on the side.

That's when it hit me.

Jasper saved me.

The black end of my vision hadn't been my death, it had been me closing my eyes.

Thank. Fucking. God.

"Seri?" I finally heard Jasper's voice saying. "Seri, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah. I can hear you," I said, trying to gently swat his hands away from my body as he tried to check my injuries. Another thought suddenly came into my mind. "Is Bella okay?"

Jasper sighed. "Bella's fine. Edward's with her right behind you. I think she may have hit her head though."

I twisted around to look behind me, and saw Edward holding Bella, seemingly arguing with her. Yep. She was fine.

I sighed in relief, and began sitting up. Jasper gently grabbed the top of my arm, his other hand supporting my back. I looked up at him, and met his honey-golden eyes filled with worry and fear. I couldn't help it. I threw my arms around him, my head on his shoulder, and squeezed him tight as I whispered in his ear, "Thank you so much for saving me, especially when you didn't have to."

"Shhh," Jasper said in my ear soothingly, gently rubbing his hand up and down my back.

It was true, though. He didn't have to. He had basically just exposed himself, had the others around us been more observant and less dumb and gullible. He had also just invoked the wrath of his family onto himself. Hell yeah I was going to be grateful.

As the adrenaline wore off, the pain in my ankle started coming back, and I started digging my fingers into Jasper's back and shoulders as it came back full force.

Jasper carefully pulled me away from him when I whimpered quietly between my clenched teeth.

"What is it, darlin'? Where are you hurt?" Jasper asked, his southern drawl slipping out. God, he really shouldn't hide that drawl. It was damn sexy.

Wait, what did he say?

"My ankle," I managed to grunt out. He was sitting on his knees, straddling my lower abdomen, so it wasn't a surprise he hadn't noticed it before. When he turned to look, I peeked over him and saw my ankle caught between the tires of Bella's truck and Tyler's van. I watched as Jasper looked around, and, apparently seeing that no one was close enough to see what he was doing, gently nudged Tyler's van, just enough to leave an inch of space between my foot and the tire. Pain flared up even worse, crawling up my calf, and I let out another sound of pain that came from the back of my throat.

"Sorry, doll," Jasper apologized, and somehow managed to pick me up in the tiny amount of space we were in. As he was carrying me over towards where Bella and Edward were located, the sound of people screaming, asking if we were okay and calling out "Someone call 911!" filled my ears.

As he squeezed us out from between the cars entirely, I told him, "Set me down by Bella."

He looked down at me for a moment before nodding, and the next minute I was placed on the ground next to Bella.

"Thanks," I said, and he nodded. My attention was then turned to Bella, and my need to know she was actually okay overrode the pain in my ankle. "Are you okay, Bell?"

Bella turned to me, pausing in her argument with Edward, who was hovering next to her, and her eyes widened. "I'm fine. When did you get over here? Are you okay?"

"Jasper just dropped me over here," I told her, and I saw her look toward my feet. Her eyes widened even more. "And I'm perfectly fi—Ah!"

Pain hit me before the feeling of ice colliding with fire traveled over my ankle. My head whipped towards my feet, and I saw Jasper leaning over my legs. He had peeled the bottom of my skinny jeans away from my ankle and pulled it up my leg. One of my plain black converse and favorite plaid sock lay next to my leg, and he had put his hand around my ankle, which was already purple and swollen.

"Sorry," Jasper muttered, and gently began probing my ankle.

I kept my teeth clenched as he checked it out, trying not to make any noise. Next to me, I could hear Bella and Edward arguing again.

"You were by your car," Bella accused, and I could tell by the tone of her voice that this wasn't the first time she had said this.

"Bella, I was walking right over here to talk to you when Tyler's van came," Edward replied, his voice dead serious.

"Oh, yeah? Then what about Jasper? How did he get over by Seri?" Bella returned, sounding smug. I saw Edward's eyes widen, and he looked toward my feet, where I could feel Jasper had paused his fingers on my ankle.

"He was walking over here, too," I said, grinding my teeth. "I waved him over when he was walking to your truck. He was following me over. He must have been just close enough to pull me out of the way when Tyler's van came at me."

You could practically smell the disbelief in the air. Bella couldn't believe what I had said in general, and Edward and Jasper couldn't believe I was lying and defending them. The feeling of their eyes on me was super awkward, and I looked down at the ground. I glanced over at Jasper, and his eyes met mine before flicking over to his right. I followed his line of sight and saw Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett standing by a large Jeep that I knew belonged to Emmett.

"Jasper," I said, causing his black gaze to lock back on me. "Go to your family. I'll be fine."

"Seri…" he said slowly, and the look on his face said, _I'd really rather not._

Luckily, I was saved by the EMTs, who were bringing stretchers over. Bella, after a lot of arguing, ended up on a stretcher in a neck brace after Edward told them she had hit her head and probably had a concussion. When they went to place me on a stretcher, Jasper told them I had a dislocated ankle, which I totally believed. After that, I shooed him away, and they began moving me.

"Bella! Seri!" I could hear Dad yell as they were about to load Bella on the stretcher.

I was already in the ambulance, and the male EMT with me told me to take a deep breath while he tightened his grip on my foot. As I took the deep breath, he slammed his hand into the bottom of my foot. I heard a loud pop, and the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life rocketed up through my body as I yelled, "Holy fucking shit!"

I blacked out right after that wonderful fiasco, and when I finally came to, I was swimming in white. White ceiling with bright lights, white sheets on a bed, white walls. A loud beeping that was all too familiar to me came from my right, and I knew in that particular moment that I was in the hospital. At least my foot is numb.

"Seri," a deep, musical voice said to my right. My voice snapped to the side to see Emmett in a chair right beside my bed.

"Mountain Man," I said in relief, smiling softly. Emmett's eyes lit up at the use of his nickname, and the corners of his lips tilted up. "What are you doing here?"

"I was worried about you," he replied, just as softly. "Your Dad just left to take Bella home. I told him me and Jasper would take you home."

"Jasper?" I asked curiously. I'd have thought he would be at home with his family. But Emmett was here too, so I guess they were rebelling. For me. Awe.

"Yeah," Emmett said. "He's out in the hall talking to Carlisle. He's really worried."

I nodded in response and, because I absolutely hated hospitals and was jealous that Bella was already on her way home, asked, "Do you know when I'm getting out of here?"

Emmett chuckled, likely seeing the irritation on my face as I looked at the needle stabbed into the back of my right hand and the clip on my finger. "Once Carlisle checks on you one more time, he'll decide if you get to go home. They're apparently concerned because you passed out in the ambulance."

I scowled at him. "They put my foot back in place in the back of that damn ambulance. Hell yeah, I passed out. That shit hurt."

"Yeah….I know," he said, grinning from my annoyance. That only caused me to scowl even more.

"Was anything wrong with Bella?" I asked Emmett, trying to steer the conversation away from my unhappiness of being here.

"No," Emmett said. "I think she just had a couple of bruises. No concussion or anything though."

"Is she still fighting with Edward over what happened?" I asked, knowing they still were but needing to ask anyways.

Emmett glanced in my eyes for a moment, seemingly searching for something. Apparently, he found nothing, because he said, "Yeah. She's stubborn."

"You're telling me," I said, trying to cross my arms only to realize that I couldn't because of the IV still stuck in my skin. My lower lip began to puff out in a pout, and Emmett started his belly-aching laugh.

Pouting harder, I was about to retort, but as soon as I opened my mouth, the door of my room swung open and Jasper was next to me a moment later, followed by a light breeze.

"Seri," Jasper said softly, taking a spot right next to Emmett and gently taking my hand, stroking the back of it in soothing circular motion. "How do you feel?"

In my head, all I could think was _Shouldn't you already know that?_

"I believe it's in my job description to be the one asking that question, Jasper," another male voice cut in before I could say anything. Looking to my left, I saw a tall blonde man, exceptionally pale and extraordinarily hot walking up to me. _When the fuck did he get here?_

Seeing my eyes were now on him, he smiled at me with an attractive mouth full of straight white teeth and said, "Hello, Miss Swan. My name is—"

"Carlisle Cullen. Yeah, yeah. I know. So when can I get out of here?" I asked quickly, waving my free hand around. Carlisle's face turned into one of surprise, probably because I had the nerve to talk to him that way. Emmett started booming his laughter again, and I could hear Jasper quietly snickering beside me. I looked over at them. "What? I want out of here. I hate hospitals."

Carlisle seemed to recover from his surprise, because he chuckled as well and said, "Yes, the hatred seems to run in your family. Now, discussing your ankle. You'll be in a walking boot for six weeks, and you'll have to use crutches for that time. No unnecessary walking or standing. Your ankle needs iced three to five times a day, and the boot needs to come off twice a day for twenty minutes each. You also need to make sure you keep your foot elevated above your heart as much as you can. I know you have school, so at least try to elevate it on a chair while you are there."

"Please tell me you have this written on a piece of paper somewhere cause you lost me after 'in a boot for six weeks,'" I said, waving my hand.

Carlisle sighed slightly, and said exasperatedly, "Yes. It is. I'll give it to Jasper and Emmett to give to your father when they take you home."

"Sweet deal, Doc," I said. "Now can you de-needle me and give me my clothes. Sitting in front of two guys in a piece of tissue paper is kind of awkward in any context."

Carlisle chuckled, shaking his head, while Emmett boomed his laughter next to me. I could see the wide smile on Jasper's face as he, too, shook his head at me. What? I was like this normally. And now I'm on pain meds, so they should be glad I'm not worse.

"I'll have a nurse come unhook you from your IV and bring you your clothes," Carlisle said, turning toward the door. As he was about to head out the door, he turned around for a moment and said, "I can see why my children quite like you, Miss Swan."

Then he disappeared around the doorframe. I sat for a moment before raising my eyebrows and then turning to Jasper and Emmett and saying, "You guys….like me? I'm so honored, senpai!"

"Senpai?" Jasper asked, his drawl coming out slightly. Emmett raised an eyebrow and looked at Jasper with a shit-eating grin on his face. I should have known that Emmett has seen some kind of anime. He seemed like the type, now that I thought about it.

I was saved from answering by the nurse that came, carrying my clothes under one arm in a neatly folded pile. I almost snorted. They'd never be folded that neatly again. Unless I could convince Bella to do my laundry.

As she shooed the boys out so that she could unhook me and I could get dressed, I yelled to Emmett, "Explain to Jasper what a senpai is while you're out there!"

I could hear the smile in Emmett's voice as he shouted back, "Sure thing, Little Red!"

Those boys….

 _ **With Jasper earlier…**_

After I gave Seri to the paramedics and watched them load her up into the ambulance, I walked slowly over to where Rosalie, Emmett, and Alice were still standing. Edward, I knew, had gotten in the ambulance with Bella. I should have done the same with Seri, but I also knew that I needed to get away from her for a little while and talk to my family.

However, I knew that as soon as I got over to my family, I should have just gone with Seri anyways. Anger, resentment, fear, disappointment, and a barrage of other emotions hit me hard. And they were only coming from Alice and Rosalie. Emmett was radiating a large amount of concern, worry, protectiveness, and familial love as he clutched Rosalie to his side with one hand. It looked like it would have hurt her, had she been human.

"What the hell were you thinking, Jasper?" Alice yelled at me when I got close enough that the humans wouldn't notice we were fighting amongst ourselves. "Or were you thinking at all?"

Before I could respond, Rosalie started in. "I expected this out of Edward, Jasper, but never from you. You both could have just exposed us to the entire human race here in Forks, Jasper. Then the whole family will have to either become fugitives or die at the hands of Volturi. Is that what you want, Jasper? To have the family split apart and killed because you want to save some insignificant little human girl?"

My anger flared, fueled by hers, Alice's, and now Emmett's own anger, and I growled low in my chest, barring my teeth slightly. I could feel my eyes darken in color. Seri may have been human, but she was one of the only people that I could talk to like I was just another person. Outside of the family.

"Don't you growl at Rosalie, Jasper. She's just stating the truth," Alice said scathingly, crossing her arms.

"How do you know that, Alice? Hmm? Did you see it in a vision?" I snapped at her. I knew for a fact that she couldn't see shit when she tried to look for a future with Seri in it.

"And what about Bella?" Emmett questioned, releasing Rosalie and coming over to stand by me and crossing his own arms defensively before Alice could retaliate. "Edward would have saved her, too, had Seri not been there to do it. But you're only berating Jasper saving Seri."

"That's because Bella is important to the family! To our future happiness!" Alice screeched, stomping her foot.

"I think we should have let them both get squashed," Rosalie mumbled under her breath. Emmett and I ignored her, knowing already how she felt.

"And Seri is important to me and Jasper now!" Emmett boomed, loud enough for some of the humans to turn their heads toward us. He then shook his head, disgust blooming in his emotions. He nudged me gently with his shoulder before saying, "Come on, Jasper. Let's go to the hospital. They can run home."

Alice gasped in horror and Rosalie's eyes widened. She tried to place a hand on Emmett's arm as he walked by, but he pushed it away and walked to the driver's side of the Jeep, hopping in. I did the same on the passenger side. Emmett started it up and we headed out of the parking lot, leaving Alice and Rosalie to stare after us.

It was a pretty quiet ride to the hospital, with both of us trying to calm down. Emmett was managing to keep the speed limit, if only a little over, but his grip on the steering wheel was so tight that he was leaving grooves. It would need replaced.

As we got to the hospital, we both hopped out and headed in. Forks' hospital was pretty small, with only three floors. We walked in, and the woman at the receptionist table beamed at us, sending off emotions of lust, guilt, and disapproval. I nearly rolled my eyes. It was normal, but it was still disgusting.

Emmett, completely oblivious to the woman's emotions, walked right up to the counter and leaned on it with his elbows.

"We're looking for Serinda Swan," he said. "Can you tell us where she is?"

"She's in room one seventeen," the receptionist said dreamily, her eyes drooping slightly as she began to rest her chin in her hand.

Emmett and I nodded to her as we began to walk toward Seri's room. As we rounded a corner, Emmett said, "I wonder why she's in the ICU."

His concern was back again full force, and I almost growled at him. It was confusing. For some reason, his emotions were rubbing me the wrong way, so I turned my gift off before it got worse and answered, "She dislocated her ankle. They must need to keep her to make sure it's back in the right spot. And to tell her how to take care of it."

Emmett nodded, accepting my answer. As we stepped up to the door of her room, I tuned into the sounds, and turned my gift back on for a moment. Her breathing and heartbeat were even, and her scent was seeping out from around the cracks of the door, soothing my nerves. I could feel Emmett relax beside me as well. All I could feel in the room was content, which was normal for someone who was asleep and not dreaming.

"She's asleep," I told Emmett lowly, and he nodded his acknowledgement as he opened the door silently and stepped. I followed him a moment later, holding the door back as it closed so it wouldn't make any noise. As I turned back around, I saw that Emmett had already taken one of the chairs beside her, so I instead walked to the other side of the bed to stand beside her.

Her auburn hair was in complete disarray, splaying all over her pillows in tangles. She had an IV in her right hand and a finger connected to a heart monitor on her left. They'd also taken her clothes, and she was in one of the hospital gowns that everyone hates. She was a little paler than usual, but she had more color than when she was in pain earlier. I couldn't help but run a finger down her warm cheek.

I realized I was lost in my own thoughts when Emmett suddenly said, "Carlisle's coming."

And he was right. I could hear Carlisle's quiet footsteps and soothing voice coming up the hall, along with a much heavier set and a much gruffer voice. Charlie Swan. It sounded as though Carlisle was trying to keep him from being so frantic.

"I promise you, Chief Swan. Seri is just fine," Carlisle said, opening the door to the room. I swiftly put my hand in my pocket and raced over to the chair next to Emmett, taking a seat.

Chief Swan walked in right behind Carlisle, and you didn't have to be an empath to know that he was extremely upset. He rushed over to Seri and stood next to the bed, staring over her body, before looking at Carlisle and asking, "Why is she asleep? Is she unconscious? Did she hit her head?"

"Chief Swan," Carlisle started, lowering the chart he was carrying. "Miss Swan was overwhelmed by the amount of pain she was in from having her dislocated ankle set. It caused her to lose consciousness, and the pain medication we have her on now will make her sleep for a small amount of time until it is in full effect."

"So…no head trauma?" Charlie asked, sounding relieved.

Carlisle shook his head. "No head trauma, Chief Swan. And she will be ready to go as soon as she wakes up and I check her then."

"Do you know when that will be?" Charlie asked. "When she'll wake up?"

"I'm afraid not. It's different for everyone," Carlisle answered.

Chief Swan sighed and looked down, scratching at the back of his neck. "Damn. I need to take Bells home so she can call her mother and go to the station to fill out some reports. But I can't just leave Seri here by herself."

"We can take her home, Chief Swan," Emmett piped up. Charlie's head whipped around to look at us, as though he didn't know we had been here this entire time. It was possible. He was pretty concentrated on making sure his daughter was okay when he came in here.

"Well…I don't…I mean," Charlie stuttered, obviously not knowing what to say.

"Really, sir," Emmett said politely. "We don't mind. And we'll make sure she gets there as safely as possible. Right, Jasper?"

"Yes, sir," I said, some of my drawl accidently coming out.

"Well," Charlie said, scratching the back of his neck with a blush spreading across his face. "I suppose…if you really don't mind."

"Not at all!" Emmett chirped, smiling brightly at him.

"Well. All right, I guess," Charlie muttered under his breath. He looked over Seri one more time before glancing at Carlisle. "Can you please give me a call when she's cleared, so I know when she should be heading home?"

"Of course," Carlisle said, giving Charlie his signature soothing smile. Charlie nodded to him in thanks and walked out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Carlisle turned to me and said, "Jasper, may I speak with you in the hallway?"

"Sure," I said, getting up and following him out into the hall.

Once we got in the hall, Carlisle turned to look at me and said, "Rosalie called to tell me what happened today."

I was immediately on guard. My back stiffened, causing me to straighten my posture. "What? Are you going to tell me that what I did was wrong and is going to ruin the family? Because I've already heard that today."

"Of course not, Jasper," Carlisle said calmly. "You know that I believe that we should help the human race in any way we can."

"But…?" I asked, waiting for him to continue.

He sighed, looking at the ground for a moment before looking back up at me and saying, "But the family does come first. And I'm afraid that your actions today have caused some serious repercussions. If someone noticed what you did, then we would have to leave. Immediately."

I just stared at him. I knew this. It was one of the first and only rules we had. Keep the family safe and don't expose yourself to the humans. But that hadn't crossed my mind at the time. All I'd been thinking about was Seri, body smashed and bones crumbled, with blood leaking out from between the truck and the van. It couldn't happen. It couldn't.

"I just want to inform you of what could happen, Jasper, not what will," Carlisle continued, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'd also like to tell you I'm proud of you for trying to help."

I nodded, and in the back of my mind I heard a small, feminine giggle. My head snapped toward the door, and Emmett's booming laughter caused the wooden door to shake. Seri was awake.

I looked at Carlisle and asked hastily, "Is that all?"

"Yes, that's all," he said.

With that, I turned and walked back into the room, smiling at the happy look on Seri's face as I took my seat next to Emmett. I couldn't help but reach out and carefully grab her hand, tracing circles on it with my thumb as I asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I believe it's in my job description to be the one asking that question, Jasper," Carlisle said, walking to the edge of Seri's bed. Seri's eyes shot over to him, and widened slightly as he smiled, almost in awe. "Hello, Miss Swan. My name is—"

"Carlisle Cullen. Yeah, yeah. I know. So when can I get out of here?" Seri asked quickly, waving her free hand around. Carlisle's face turned into one of surprise, and Emmett and I shared a look. Carlisle apparently hadn't completely believed some of the stuff we had said about her. Neither of us could help but laugh at the expression. Seri, apparently hearing us, looked over at us and said, "What? I want out of here. I hate hospitals."

Carlisle seemed to recover from his surprise, because he chuckled as well and said, "Yes, the hatred seems to run in your family. Now, discussing your ankle. You'll be in a walking boot for six weeks…"

I nearly rolled my eyes as Carlisle continued on his doctor's explanation. Seri's eyes had glazed over slightly and her face was pretty blank. She was obviously not paying attention. How did Carlisle not realize that?

"Please tell me you have this written on a piece of paper somewhere cause you lost me after 'in a boot for six weeks,'" Seri said abruptly, waving her hand around in the air again.

I mentally snickered, and I could feel Emmett's shoulders shake slightly as he laughed silently beside me. Carlisle sighed, and said exasperatedly, "Yes. It is. I'll give it to Jasper and Emmett to give to your father when they take you home."

"Sweet deal, Doc," she said. "Now can you de-needle me and give me my clothes. Sitting in front of two guys in a piece of tissue paper is kind of awkward in any context."

Carlisle chuckled, shaking his head, while Emmett boomed his laughter next to me. I grinned at her, shaking my head. She might not be the only person to have ever thought something like that, but she is the only one that would word it that way.

"I'll have a nurse come unhook you from your IV and bring you your clothes," Carlisle said, turning toward the door. As he was about to duck around the doorframe, he turned around for a moment and said, "I can see why my children quite like you, Miss Swan."

Then he was gone. Seri watched him leave and sat there for a moment, seemingly thinking about something. A few seconds later, she turned to us with her eyebrows raised and said, "You guys….like me? I'm so honored, senpai!"

"Senpai?" I asked, my drawl coming out once again. I don't know why I was slipping up so much lately with my accent, but it's not like Seri really cared. And senpai? I know it was Japanese—I could speak the language fluently, of course—but why did she say it that way? Emmett raised an eyebrow and turned to look at me with a huge shit-eating grin on his face.

The nurse came in only a minute later with Seri's clothes folded—and washed, by the smell of them—tucked under her arm and told us to get out. As the door was about to shut behind us, I heard Seri yell, "Explain to Jasper what a senpai is while you're out there!"

Emmett's grin was huge, and I rolled my eyes as he shouted back, "Sure thing, Little Red!"

Then Emmett turned to me and opened his mouth again. Before he could say anything, I held up a hand and said, "No, Emmett. I already know what a senpai is." Emmett pouted, probably upset that he couldn't feed me some made up, perverted version of what a senpai is. I leaned against the wall next to me, hands in my pockets, as something else suddenly came to mind. "So, why do you call her Little Red?"

Emmett shrugged, a small smile on his lips as he explained, "Well, it originally started when she called me Mountain Man, and then she told me that she thought that if the woodcutter in _Little Red Riding Hood_ could be embodied, she thinks he would look like me. And then there's the fact that her hair is red…." Emmett stopped for a second, looking thoughtful, before he shrugged again. "I don't know. It just fits."

I nodded, looking at the ground. I didn't really know what I felt about their kind-of-matching nicknames. I mean, sure, she has one for me—she calls me 'Soldier Boy' often enough—but I didn't have one for her. I'd never called her anything but her preferred name. Should I give her a nickname? And why was I so concerned about this?

The door to the room opened, and the nurse came out and told us, "She's changing. Just a warning, though—we gave her a little bit more pain meds for her first day at home, so she might suddenly get a little loopy here soon."

"Okay," Emmett said.

"Thanks," I said at the same time.

I'm sure this will be interesting.

 _ **Back to Seri**_

God, damn it! Why is this so hard all of a sudden? It should not be this hard to put a freaking shirt on. It's bad enough that the nurse had to help me put my pants on, so I was definitely going to do this by myself. I shit you not, I'm pretty sure it took me, like, five minutes just to put my shirt on. My shoulders ached, so it was hard to get them over my head to get my shirt on, but I finally did it! And that's all that matters.

I grabbed the crutches next to me and carefully placed them under my armpits, making deliberate movements to make it to the door. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts at getting the door open with the crutches, I let a sharp breath out through my nose, pouted, and slammed the end of one crutch into the wooden door a couple of times.

The door opened almost immediately, and I grinned into Jasper's worried face as I said, "Ready to go?" and squeezed around him and into the hallway.

"Er, yeah. Let's go then," he murmured from beside me. Emmett came up beside me, looked at me for a moment, and then grabbed me, holding me in a bridal style carry.

I about peed everywhere. My crutches dropped to the ground, and Jasper picked them up before one of the nurses running around here could trip over them as I yelled, "Whoa, bro! A little warning next time would be nice! What if I had to pee? I'd have dribbled all over you!"

Emmett's face turned into one of disgust as he started walking down the hall, Jasper right beside him.

"You wouldn't really have peed on me, would you?" Emmett asked, the disgust evident in his voice.

"I'll pay you fifty bucks to pee on him, darlin'," Jasper said, smirking. His accent was out and about again, exposing his differences. Good.

I giggled at him. "I'd pee on Mountain Man for fifty cents."

"Ew," Emmett said, scrunching his face up. "That's just nasty, Little Red."

I giggled again before shivering slightly. We had just walked outside, and I tucked myself closer to Emmett in a very terrible attempt to get warm. Especially since he was colder than the air. Suddenly, a woolly grey coat fell on top of me, and I looked over to see that Jasper was now in only his t-shirt.

Wow. Those are some nice arms.

"We'll try to get the Jeep warmed up as quickly as possible," Jasper told me, "but you can have my coat for now."

"Thank you, Jasper," I whispered into the jacket. He was not doing a very good job at keeping their secret a secret, but I wasn't going to blow his cover by saying something. Wait a second… "You've got the Jeep?"

"Yep. My baby," Emmett said, walking up to the silver monster that looked like it was twice my height. Jasper opened the door for him, and he carefully set me into the back seat so that my leg was propped up. Emmett and Jasper then climbed into the Jeep, almost too quickly, and cranked the heat as soon as the Jeep was on.

"I thought Rosalie was your baby," I said as we pulled out of the hospital's parking lot.

I could see Emmett and Jasper both scowl in the rearview mirror. Oh. Must have hit a tough spot with the family. They really were rebelling.

I shifted slightly in my seat. "You know, if you guys are going to get in trouble with your family, you don't have to hang out with me. I know you guys usually keep to yourselves…"

I didn't want to be the reason that they have problems with their family.

"No!" they both screamed.

"No. It's fine. They'll get over it," Emmett said reassuringly.

"But…you're having problems with Rosalie now," I started.

"Seri," Jasper interrupted, turning around in the passenger seat to look at me. "Really. It's fine. Our family just isn't very used to mixing with others. We move around a lot, so we try not to get too attached to people."

I stared into his eyes. Of course they moved around a lot. They didn't age, so they had to. Duh. I sighed a second later and nodded to him. He gave me a small smile and turned back around in his seat. Fine. If he and Emmett are okay with being alienated from their family for a while, that was their decision. I'm not going to argue. But I should look into that a little bit later.

I leaned my head back against the window and closed my eyes, listening to the rain wash gently over the roof of the Jeep. A few seconds later, I fell asleep. The next thing I remember was being lifted into another pair of arms. My eyes opened slightly to see pale skin, golden eyes, and honey blond hair. Jasper. My savior.

"Thank you, Jasper," I remember mumbling under my breath. Then I was asleep again.


	5. Invitations

**Disclaimer: Anything recognizable is not mine.**

My dream was odd. It was more like a vision than anything else. I was in a room that was pretty small; the walls were white with one wall replaced by a large window, and the only other thing in it, besides me, was a table—long enough for a human body—that was cushioned on the top and a mirror. And in the mirror, was an image of me. I say an image, because it looked like me, but it didn't.

My skin was so much paler than normal. It had virtually no color. My hair was longer than I remembered it being, down to right below my butt, and was much glossier and thicker. My cheek bones were a small bit higher, my chin a bit more pointed, my nose a little straighter, and my lips were perfectly full and a perfect shade of rose pink. And my eyes…

I gasped.

My eyes, which had originally been a deep blue, were now a bright scarlet red.

I looked away from the mirror, toward the ground, and listened to my own body. I wasn't breathing. There was no heartbeat.

I was…a vampire?

Before I could think for too much longer, two arms wrapped around my waist, and I was encompassed in a feeling of safety and warmth at the feeling of the body settling in around me. My eyes shut for a moment and a small breath came out of my mouth at the feeling. I felt a chin drop on my head, and then that disappeared and I felt a nose on my exposed throat instead. I opened my eyes to look at the arms wrapped around me. They were obviously male, with the muscle corded around the forearms. They're skin was the same shade of ivory as mine, so he was a vampire. And then I noticed the imprints in their skin that were intertwined with each other. Teeth marks. My fingers came up to trace them for a moment before I turned to look at the head on my shoulder.

That was when I woke up. Every. Single. Time.

The dream followed me at night for the next month following the accident. I was able to get my boot off after only a month—thank God I was a fast healer—and was currently in physical therapy for a while.

Bella and I had been the center of attention for the first week after the accident, which was something we both hated. Tyler Crowley kept following us around, and, if we weren't together, he would alternate who he was bothering. Mike and Eric hated it as much as we did, and were pretty obvious about their dislike of Tyler's attention on us; however, Tyler wouldn't take the hint from any of us, and I was doing my best not to just turn around and deck him and tell him we were even to get him away from me.

At home, Bella had pestered me about where Jasper and Edward had been standing during the accident, and I was vehement in telling her that Jasper had been on his way over to me and was close enough to help. I didn't know where Edward was at the time, but he was probably coming over to talk to her or something. Eventually, she got frustrated over my repeated answer and gave up on asking, though I think she was still watching me to see if I'd slip in my lies for whatever reason.

Bella had also been incredibly tense lately because Edward had been avoiding her hard core since she has tried to interrogate him at the hospital. She was getting to that weird mopey-anxious-depressed-but-trying-not-to-seem-like-it-and-failing-miserably thing she had going on for the week that Edward left.

I was so tired of it that after the fourth week, I crutched myself into art and right up to Emmett and said, "Could you please tell your brother to get his head out of his ass before I either kill myself or bring a baseball bat to school for his car?"

"Jasper?" Emmett asked, cocking his head to the side.

After I had sat down in my chair and stowed my bag underneath the table, I turned to Emmett with a deadpanned look and said, "Emmett, why would I be mad at Jasper? And he doesn't even bring his car to school, so why would I bring a baseball bat for it?"

"I don't know," Emmett said, looking confused and a little sheepish.

I slammed my head down onto the desk in front of me. He may be a vampire, but sometimes he wasn't very smart. "No, Emmett. I meant Edward."

"Ah," he said, nodding his head. "Bella getting bad again?" He remembered how I was last time she was like this.

"You have no idea," I said, some of my word warped by the desk. "Mom keeps calling me and asking if I'm _sure_ Bella is all right and that I should call more and that if we ever get homesick, we can come home whenever because for some reason she thinks that's the real reason that Bella can't get her shit together."

Emmett's large hand patted my back gently, the coldness seeping into my skin. The one thing I did notice was that I really didn't mind or notice the iciness of their skin when they touched me. Weird right? "It'll get better."

I snorted into the desk. "Yeah. Once Edward finds the stick he lost up his butthole four weeks ago at the hospital."

Emmett snorted a chuckle and was about to respond until Ms. Julian walked in and began lecturing us on warm and cool colors. So that conversation was over.

Chemistry was interesting that day. Especially when one kid accidentally tried to mix some sodium and water together and explode the classroom. Luckily, Mr. Ardin caught him before they could touch, and saved us all. Apparently that kid couldn't read the label on the bottle. Dumbass.

Lunch was awkward. Bella told me how Jessica had called and asked her if she was planning on asking Mike to the dance that was coming up. Apparently Mike had rejected Jessica in some sort of way, because Jessica was sulking and trying to sit as far away from Mike as possible. And she pretty much refused to talk to Bella or me. Bella I understood, since Mike was standing her up for Bella, but what had I done? I was my usual, extremely fascinating and bubbly self. Maybe I should tell her it's rude to ignore others just because they are related to someone else they are mad at.

After lunch, my life became a little more awkward when Tyler cornered me at my locker. As I was getting my books out for my next class, Tyler came up behind and put both hands on either side of my body against the lockers, effectively caging me in. I turned around in the small space, looking up at him in confusion. When he didn't say anything for a few seconds, I pushed my back up against my locker so I was as far as I could get away from him and asked, "Can I help you with something?"

"You could go to the dance with me," he said, flashing what I'm sure he thought was a charming smile. Too bad he reminded me of a monkey.

"Uh, hell no," I said, looking around him for ways to escape from his ass. The kid was persistent as hell, and I probably wouldn't be able to leave anytime soon unless I punched him in face to distract him. Or kicked him in the balls. Heehee. I should do that.

Tyler frowned. "Why not?"

Oh, shit. I didn't think of an excuse in advance for this. I stared at him for a moment, chewing on my lip as I tried to think of a good reason. While I usually would just tell the boy to fuck off because I didn't like him, I was trying to be polite about it so he wouldn't get his panties in a twist. I knew he was trying to make up for the van thing again, and if I rejected him without a good reason, he'd just try to convince me for the next week and a half to go with him. Come on. Think. What would Bella do? What would Bella do?

Oh, yeah! In the book, Bella said she was…

"She'll be with me that weekend," a gruff yet smooth voice answered for me. Jasper. My savior. I nearly sighed in relief when I heard his voice. I looked over at him with a soft smile on my face. He, however, was busy staring at Tyler with one of the most serious faces I'd ever seen on him. And his eyes were almost pitch black. Uh oh. He's pissed.

Tyler looked down to me and asked, "Is this true?"

I glanced over at Jasper, who met my eyes for a split second, before looking back up at Tyler. Thinking on the fly, I chirped, "Yep. We were planning on going to Seattle and checking out the new ice skating rink up there."

Did Seattle even have an ice skating rink? Oh, well. Hope Tyler doesn't notice.

I saw Tyler run his eyes slowly over my body, and I thought for a second that I could feel the air vibrate. Tyler then met my eyes and slowly dropped his arms, backing a couple steps away from me. Looking between Jasper and me, he shrugged and said, "All right. If you're sure. I'll try Bella later."

And with that, he walked away. I let out a breath of relief. I most definitely never want anyone to cage me in like that ever again. That was awful.

A cold hand grasped mine and began tugging me in a quick pace toward class.

"Are you all right?" Jasper asked, meeting my eyes with his now dark browns.

"Yeah, Soldier Boy," I laughed out nervously, looking at the ground. "I'm good." I don't think I'd ever felt that helpless in my life, and nothing had even happened. Maybe I'm developing claustrophobia?

We walked in silence through the sprinkling rain. It was a little more awkward than usual, and I hated it. We got to the classroom and took our seats right before the bell rang thanks to the brisk pace that Jasper had been pulling me at. Trying to cut the awkwardness, I looked at Jasper and asked, "So…does Seattle actually have an ice skating rink?"

Jasper raised an eyebrow, giving me an odd look. He was obviously amused when he asked me, "You didn't know whether or not Seattle actually had a skating rink when you said that?"

"No…" I said slowly, my face sheepish. What? How am I expected to know everything that Seattle has? I haven't been in Washington for months. "But they do, right?"

Jasper shook his head at me, chuckling a little bit, "Yes. They built one about four months ago in the mall."

"Oh, my god! Seriously? Can we really go? I've always wanted to try ice skating!" I said excitedly, bouncing up and down in my seat. Phoenix didn't have any place to go ice skating, but I used to watch it on TV all the time and since then I'd wanted to try it.

Jasper shook his head, his hair waving back and forth I front of his face, and said, "Sure, Seri. We can go sometime."

"Yay!" I said, sounding vaguely like a little kid whose parent had told them they were going to buy them their favorite ice cream on a hot day. Two scoops.

And just like that, the awkwardness was gone, and I had some nice plans to look forward to in the near future.

After we said our goodbyes after class, I met up with Bella, who was walking without the golden retriever that is Mike, which was unusual. When I questioned her on it, she told me, "He asked me to that dance that's coming up."

"Ah," I said. "And you rejected him. Because he's annoying and you don't want to cause fourteen people to go to the hospital that night with your bone-breaking dance skills."

Bella gave me a slight glare and said, "He's not that annoying."

I snorted at that, then laughed internally. Ha ha. She didn't even try to redeem her dance skills. That's how you know it's bad.

"Tyler cornered me after lunch and asked me," I told her. Then, before she could ask any questions, I asked, "So, what was with the pensive look on your face that you had before I got here?"

Damn. I shouldn't have asked. For the rest of the time that we walked to the gym, got dressed, and got onto the basketball court that was set up, I had to listen to Bella rant about Edward. Apparently, he'd finally talked to her today—maybe Emmett had actually said something like I'd asked him to—and he was being cryptic with her. He was still being an ass, but at least he was talking to her. And the ranting anger was a step up from the annoying sulkiness of him ignoring her, so I'd take it for now.

As we walked back to our cars, I noticed a dark figure leaning against my truck. What the fuck? It had better not be Tyler….

Nope. Just Eric, I realized as I got closer. I smiled at him as I opened the driver's side door of the truck and threw my bag inside. "Hey, Eric. What's up?"

He smiled back, looking a little nervous. He shoved his hand in his pockets and looked at the ground, shuffling his feet every once in a while. Finally, he looked back up at me and said, "Uh, I was just wondering if…um…you would consider…going to the dance with me?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. I actually did like Eric as a friend, a lot more than I did Tyler, but I wasn't expecting this. I kind of felt bad for having to let him down.

"Sorry, Eric, but I was planning on going to Seattle that day," I told him apologetically.

He looked back at the ground. "Yeah, that's what Tyler said, but I thought maybe you were just trying to get him away from you. I know he's been annoying you."

This is true. I had, at one point, ranted to Eric about how Tyler followed Bella and me around all the time.

"Yeah…" I said sheepishly. "But I really am planning on going to Seattle that day. Sorry."

"It's okay," he said, smiling sadly at me. "Maybe next time, right?"

"Yeah…maybe," I said, and with that, he turned to walk away. Or maybe not. I didn't really like Eric in that way at all, but he was a nice boy. I felt bad for having to turn him down.

With a sad sigh, I climbed up into my truck and turned it on. I ended up right behind Bella, and almost died laughing when Tyler Crowley showed up at Bella's passenger side window. I knew he was asking her about the dance, and that she was rejecting him. I also knew that Edward had stopped on purpose so that Tyler could do it. As much as Edward was annoying me at the moment, that was pretty funny to me. Nice one.

I watched as Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper all walked up to Edward's Volvo in front of Bella's truck and hopped in before Edward sped away.

Once Bella and I had gotten home, I decided to help Bella with dinner, which turned out to be chicken enchiladas. She ranted about Edward some more to me and we talked about our upcoming plans to go to Seattle on the Saturday of the dance. She was a bit surprised when I told her that I had decided to go to Seattle too, but she brushed it off as a twin thing. I didn't tell her about Jasper coming, because then a whole new conversation would be started up and I didn't want to go into that.

As we were cooking, the phone rang. Bella answered, and took a couple minutes to talk to whoever was on the line. After she hung up, she informed me that it had been Jessica telling her that Mike had accepted her invitation to the dance. Thank God. That was meant that Jessica was going to go back to being the happy-go-lucky gossip girl that we met her as.

After she was done on the phone, we went back to making dinner in silence. I could tell she was concentrating hard on something—probably the Edward thing—so I just hummed songs that Renee used to sing around the house as I diced chicken.

Dad seemed a little suspicious when he came home to the smell of green peppers. Who could blame him? We spent four hours one day during summer running around Port Angeles and Seattle trying to find some Mexican food that seemed at least slightly edible. Trust me when I say that there wasn't any. But I think Dad did call the health inspector on, like, three different places. Good times.

"Dad?" Bella asked once we were all sitting down for dinner.

"Yeah, Bella?"

"Um, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to Seattle for the day a week from Saturday…if that's okay?" Bella more stated than asked.

"Yeah. Me too, Pops. I wanted to check out the new ice skating rink," I said through a mouth full of chicken.

"Why did you want to go, Bells? I can't imagine you're planning on going ice skating," Charlie jested, looking between the two of us. I snickered as Bella's face turned pink.

"Well, I wanted to get a few books—the library here is pretty limited—and maybe look at some clothes," she said, trying to help her case without sounding pushy. I mentally rolled my eyes.

"The truck doesn't get very good gas mileage," Charlie said before looking over at me. "Neither of them."

"Yes, but we do know how to put gas in both the trucks," I said slowly, raising an eyebrow at him. Was he saying that I wasn't capable of putting gas in my own car?

"Are you two planning on going together?" Charlie asked, sticking another forkful of food in his mouth as he stared at us.

Bella opened her mouth, but I beat her to it, saying, "Probably not. I only want to go to the skating rink, and I'm not sure how long I'll be there. And Bella wants to go get essentials, not babysit me at the ice rink. Our scheduling doesn't quite match up."

"Seattle's a big city, and Bella hasn't been here as much as you have Seri," Charlie said warningly.

I rolled my eyes.

"Dad, Phoenix is five times the size of Seattle—and I can read a map. Don't worry about me," Bella said reassuringly. I could also tell she was a bit miffed at the fact that he thought she would get lost. Ha ha. I grinned.

"I suppose," Dad said after a few moments. "But I want both of you girls to be careful."

"Thanks," Bella said.

"We will, Daddy," I said, giving him a large smile.

"Will you two be back in time for the dance?" he asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Really, Dad. I hate dressing up, and Bella can't dance. Do you really think either of us were planning on going?"

"Good point," Dad said gruffly, and that was the end of that conversation.

The next day at school, Bella practically parked in the middle of nowhere in the school's parking lot, since that was as far from the silver Volvo that contained the future 'love-of-her-life' as she could get at the moment. I'd gotten there about fifteen minutes before she had, and was happily sitting on the tailgate of my truck, swinging my legs in time with the music coming through my headphones. Emmett sat beside me, jokingly criticizing every single song that came on, even though he knew almost all of them himself.

I nudged Emmett and pointed over to where Bella had just pulled in.

He looked at me. "What?"

"Just watch," I said, a little surprised that he didn't know what his brother was about to do. I'd had another vision right after I'd gotten up about Edward asking Bella to Seattle, and that was one of the reasons that I'd shown up before her.

I watched as Bella dropped her keys to the ground, and as she lent down to pick them up, Edward was suddenly leaning against her truck, swinging her keys around one finger. I looked up at Emmett. His eyes were wide.

"How good are your lip reading skills?" I asked him, popping my earbud out of my ear and winding it around my MP3 player.

Emmett looked into my eyes and grinned. "I was trained by the CIA, Little Red."

I rolled my eyes, but the thought did linger in my head. He'd been alive for a good seventy-plus years. Why not?

"She's getting mad at him for showing up out if thin air all the time," Emmett whispered conspiratorially in my ear as I stared intently at them. "Now, she's getting mad about the traffic jam he caused so that Tyler could ask her to the dance on Saturday."

I saw Edward snicker.

"Oh, damn. She's accusing him of regretting that she didn't get hit by that van," he said. I rolled my eyes. "Shit. He's mad now."

"Of course he is. The boy is more hormonal than a pregnant woman on her period," I said back, causing Emmett to snort.

Bella looked really angry from what I could see, and she was starting to walk toward the school—toward us. Edward took a couple long, quick strides to catch up to her.

I nudged Emmett when he didn't say anything for a few seconds. They were obviously talking, and I was getting zero information.

"She asked why he won't leave her alone," he said. He chuckled a couple seconds later. "She asked if he had a multiple personality disorder."

"She'd probably like him even more if he was schizophrenic," I told him. He raised an eyebrow at me, but I just shook my head. No need to tell him about her need to help others, or whatever. He'd figure it out eventually.

"He just asked her to go to Seattle with him next Saturday," Emmett said, sounding surprised. "He offered her a ride and everything."

"She'll accept," I told him confidently.

A few seconds later, he said, "She accepted." He looked over at me suspiciously. "How'd you know that?"

I rolled my eyes as I jumped off the tailgate. "I live with the girl, Em. I have my whole life. She _likes_ Edward, whether she knows it for sure or not." I grabbed my book bag, slinging it over my shoulder, and nodded my head toward the school. "Come on, Mountain Man. We need to go before we're late."

Emmett grinned as he jumped down from my tailgate. As he did so, he scooped me up, throwing me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and jogging toward our art class. I hung from his shoulder, screaming and laughing all the way.


	6. Blood Type

**Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable belongs to me.**

Art passed pretty quickly, with me and Emmett joking around as usual. During Chemistry, however, I'd gotten a vision of Bella getting sick and going home with Edward. They were blood typing in Biology today. Luckily, Eric didn't notice my pause in our conversation and I managed to continue taking notes and listening to Eric. During Trig and on her way to lunch, Jess chattered happily about her plans for the dance.

As we walked into the cafeteria, the first thing I saw was Edward sitting at a corner table by himself. I met his eyes from across the room and nodded to him, which he returned. I flicked my eyes over to Bella and then back to him, thinking _You want me to get her for you?_

He nodded back to me, the sides of his lips curling up in a small smile.

I nudged Bella with my shoulder and nodded towards Edward, saying, "Hey, Bell."

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," Jessica said, noticing where my own gaze was. "I wonder why he's sitting alone today."

Bella's head snapped up a second later, and I watched as Edward curled a finger, asking her to come to him, and then winked at her. I rolled my eyes at the gesture, but Bella nearly swooned. Damned romantic.

"Does he mean _you_?" Jessica asked, astonished.

Bitch, please. He sure as hell didn't mean you.

"Maybe he needs some help with his Biology homework," Bella muttered, her cheeks beginning to flush pink. "Um, I'd better go see what he wants."

I watched as she went to sit down with him and had begun walking with Jessica to our regular lunch table when my tray was suddenly stolen from my grasp, causing me to almost fall over; however, before I could hit the floor, a pair of strong, cold arms wrapped themselves right under my ribs and pulled me into an equally icy and hard chest.

"Give me back my pizza, you ass-hat!" I yelled, not even caring who it was that took it. I loved pizza, and I was just about willing to fight someone to the death for it. I heard a booming laugh, and realized it had been Emmett who had stolen my tray and was currently jogging over to where Rosalie was sitting.

"Ass-hat?" I familiar southern drawl said next to my ear, sounding amused.

I grinned up at him as Jasper released my waist, but kept his arm over my shoulder, walking me over to their usual table. And where my pizza currently was.

"Yes. Ass-hat. A hat for your ass," I explained, and he chuckled next to me.

"That's got to be one of the most…interesting insults I've heard lately," he said, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"Stick around. You're bound to hear even more from me. You haven't seen me angry yet," I said.

By now, we had gotten to the table, and Jasper pulled out one of the old blue plastic chairs for me to sit in. I sat down, and he sat next to me. Next to Jasper was an empty seat, then Emmett, who still had my tray of food, and Rosalie next to him.

"I love you, Em, but next time you steal my pizza, I'll cut your fucking hands off. Okay?" I said, smiling sweetly as I snatched my plate back from him.

Emmett put his hand over his heart and faked a hurt expression. "Why, Seri, are you saying you love pizza more than me?"

"Hell, yes," I said, taking a bite of the warm cheesy goodness and moaning in delight.

Rosalie wrinkled in disgust. "What is she doing here, Emmett?"

"Come on, Rose," Jasper said next to me. "Edward's got Bella today, so there's no reason that Seri can't eat lunch with us."

"Yeah, Rose," Emmett agreed beside her. "Plus, then Seri would be stuck listening to Jessica Stanley spew her random shit until lunch was over."

Apparently, Rosalie hated Jessica more than she disliked me, since her nose crinkled up even more. I snorted. She had a point.

"Whore," she said, turning her nose up and crossing her arms.

"Oh, she's so sassy. So open in her hatefulness," I sighed wistfully, staring at Rosalie with my head in my hands. "Absolutely gorgeous."

Jasper snickered and Emmett laughed at my little dramatic display. I saw Rosalie glance at me out of the corner of her eyes and then roll them, but I could see a small smile playing on her lips anyway.

"So, where's Alice?" I asked, looking at the empty seat next to Jasper and taking another bite of my pizza.

"She went home after second period. Said something about new clothes coming out that she needed to buy as soon as possible. She said she should be back in time for sixth period though," Rosalie said absentmindedly, staring at her hands as she picked at her nails.

"Ah," I said, taking a drink out of a bottle of lemonade. Beside me, Jasper groaned. I looked at him with an eyebrow raised and asked, "What was that for?"

"Nothing," he mumbled, looking at the table.

Emmett rolled his eyes, throwing one of his arms over the back of Rosalie's chair. "He hates the new clothes Alice buys him."

What?

"Then why do you wear them?" I asked, turning to look at him.

"It makes her happy," he sighed out.

I opened my mouth to say something, then shut it quickly. I stared at my pizza, my eyebrows scrunched together, and absently played with my bottle of lemonade as I thought. I understood why he wanted to please her so much—he saw her as his savior from the emotions humans emit when he fed from them—but I didn't understand why, if they were mates, she wouldn't buy him clothes he would like. He had to please her but she didn't have to please him? That's bullshit.

"What?" Jasper asked, squinting slightly. Damn. He looked suspicious.

"Nothing," I said quickly, trying to cover my thoughts by taking another huge bite of pizza.

"Come on, Seri," he said, nudging me lightly with my shoulder. "What is it?"

I looked over at him and quickly ran my eyes up his form from his shoes to his head. Black dress shoes that were meant to look slightly like tennis shoes, dark wash jeans that were obviously designer, and a pale blue button up with some weird looking sweater-vest-thing that was in a darker shade of blue.

"I think you'd look better in worn out jeans and a t-shirt," I said, shrugging nonchalantly. I wasn't lying. He definitely would. I just don't know what he'd think about me telling him that.

He cocked his head slightly to the side, staring at me in a lazy yet alert way that told me he was trying to read my emotions. However, only a few seconds later a sophomore walked by the table to throw his trash away and gawk at us. As soon as he passed our table you could hear the massive explosion of gas that came out of his butt, and I could only keep it in for a few seconds before I sputtered and went into a hysterical laughing fit. I could feel the tears streaming down my face at the look of disdain on Rosalie's face and the disgust on Jasper and Emmett's.

It took me a few minutes before I was finally able to calm down, and when I did, I looked over to where Bella and Edward were sitting. He had a small grin on his face as he twirled what I thought was a bottle cap between his fingers. Bella just stared at him with a straight face, clearly unhappy with whatever it was he had just said.

"They look like they're getting along today," I said suddenly, and Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper turned their heads to follow my eye line. Rosalie sneered at the two of them before turning back to stare at the table while Emmett grinned in their direction and Jasper just stared.

"Is Edward as mood-swingy as Bella is?" I asked suddenly, unable to stop my lips from flapping what I was thinking.

Emmett whipped his head to look at me before booming out his usual laugh, Rosalie's lips twitched, and Jasper grinned at me.

"Very," Jasper replied.

You would know, wouldn't you?

"Shit's going to hit the fan when they get together," I muttered to myself, shoving that last bite of my pizza into my mouth. I saw Rosalie stiffen, and for a second Emmett and Jasper looked at each other. No one said anything about what I'd said though, so I just assumed it was quiet enough no human would be able to hear it.

I looked over at the table again to see Edward walking toward the table. As he walked past, he nodded to the table. Then he was out the door.

Taking the initiative, I picked up my tray and said, "I'm going to go get my stuff and head to Wars."

"I'll come with you," Jasper said, pushing out of his chair and grabbing the tray away from me.

"You know I can carry that myself, right?" I said as we walked to the trash can and then out into the sprinkling rain. Jasper walked closer to me than usual once we got outside, and I could physically see his eyes darting around us. I stared at him for a moment before something occurred to me. "Are you worried something like yesterday is going to happen again?"

Jasper's head snapped toward me, and I could see how dark his eyes were. Not mad, but protective. He looked me over before saying, "No one should treat a lady like that."

I rolled my eyes, strolling into the door of the school and right up to my locker. As I spun my lock, I said, "Jasper, nothing was going to happen, and it won't happen again."

"But how do you know that?" he asked in a serious tone as I grabbed a book.

"No need to be so aggressive," I said teasingly back, trying to get him to lighten up.

"How do you know that?" he asked again, enunciating each word separately this time. Okay, so that didn't work.

I slung my backpack onto my shoulder and slammed my locker shut. Turning to look at him, I said in my most soothing voice, "Because I do, Jasper. Trust me."

I saw his jaw tighten before he nodded once to me, and we continued on to class.

It was awkward once again when we got to class, and I wondered if every day was going to start like this now. A few minutes into the period, a vision came to me, and I grinned brightly as I looked over at Jasper and said, "Hey, you know what would be fun?"

Jasper looked at me with eyes that were still more brown than gold and raised an eyebrow.

"Can we invite Emmett and Rosalie to go ice skating with us? Please?" I begged hopefully. I put my hands up in a praying gesture in front of my chest, pushed out my lower lip, and widened my eyes, giving him the puppy dog look

Jasper's serious façade broke, and a wide smile stretched across his face as he shook his head. "Always thinking of playing around with Emmett, aren't you?"

"Well, that sounded dirty," I pointed out. His face dropped and he opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, I went on. "I think it would be like a cute little date for Rosalie and Emmett. You could even bring Alice, if you want."

I didn't want, but it would be impolite to say so. It was a bonus to know she wouldn't actually come anyway.

"She wouldn't want to. There's a chance of her clothed getting wet from the ice," Jasper said, scowling slightly. "But I can ask Rose and Em when I get home later, if you'd like."

"Yay!" I cheered. I turned my head to look at Mr. Roberts. I thought about listening to him for a moment before rolling my eyes and looking toward the window beside Jasper instead. My heart skipped a beat and I almost started panicking when I saw Edward carrying Bella on the sidewalk outside. I took a deep breath as I remembered the whole blood-typing-in-biology thing.

"You okay?" Jasper asked, concern clearly in his voice.

I took another deep breath. "Yeah. I just saw Edward carrying Bella. She looked sick. Then I remembered that I heard they were blood typing in biology today."

Jasper raised an eyebrow. I knew what that meant. Explain.

"She hates the smell of blood. It makes her sick," I explained.

"But humans can't smell blood," Jasper said, confused. He didn't even notice his tiny slip.

"We can. It smells like rust and salt. Disgusting. I can just stomach it better than she can." It was true. I think it came from years of patching up her cuts and scrapes.

"That's weird," he muttered, almost to himself.

"You're telling me," I muttered back.

About halfway through class, I got a text from Bella that said Edward was taking her home because she was sick and that Alice would bring her truck around later. The rest of the period passed by pretty uneventfully, with just the chat and friendly joking between Jasper and me as we did section review questions. Gym was just as uneventful, and I was glad when the day was over and I could get away from the hellhole that was the school.


End file.
